Wanted: Neptune's Trident
by toSempiternity
Summary: Jason Grace is a normal kid. As normal as he can get by being a demigod and Neptune wanting to kill him. With visions of boring trees. Neptune's trident has been stolen, and Jason and his friends have until the fall equinox...before all hell breaks loose.
1. Reyna Blows Up In The Face of a Bobby

**This is only my second fanfiction... I would greatly appreciate constructive criticism–beta reader, anyone? Thanks. **

**All of the story will be set in the PoV of Jason Grace–it's basically a counterpart of Percy's journey... anyone think that _The Odyssey of Jason Grace_ is a good series title?**

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><p><strong><span>Chapter ONE<span>**

Right. So, question two: Explain the properties of life emerge from complex organization. I had absolutely no idea what the question meant. Well, could you blame me? I'm _not_ a child of Minerva–and never will be.

I started to daydream. Only one minute until–

The bell rung. Well, maybe one second.

I avoided all of the stampeding feet of my classmates and somehow managed to scramble outside for recess.

Outside, the air was brisk and fresh. That wasn't stopping storm clouds from rolling in. Seems like Jupiter is angry.

The weather had been real freaky since December. It had stopped for a brief period of time, and then started up again.

I stared across the piece of grassy land, wishing I was at _Castra Romana_. Even though the director, Lupa, was far from the word 'nice', camp is way better than school. Don't you agree? Oh, wait, forget that I said that. Reyna will most certainly kill me. Just leave it to a daughter of the wisdom goddess to do that.

No tests, no homework–wow, I'm starting to sound like Bobby. As if my thoughts summoned him over, he was right at my side.

"Hi, Jason!" he cheerfully grinned. "What's up?"

I laughed dryly. "Nothing much, if you don't count the fact that I did one question on the science review sheet. You?"

"I didn't do any," Bobby smiled. "Don't tell Reyna that."

"I'm sure she will understand," I chuckled sarcastically. In an undertone, I added, "After she finishes turning you into French toast sticks."

"I heard that!"

I pretended (very badly) that I was scraping the ground with a stick when Reyna appeared over me, scowling.

"I don't even _know_ how to make them," she added, plopping down next to me. "Last time I tried to cook, I burned down a whole house."

Bobby's peals of laughter could be heard all the way to Olympus.

"What's so funny?" Reyna asked, instantly flaring up even more. "That's not a good thing, you idiot!"

"I know that," Bobby said innocently. It was clear to everyone that he didn't know that.

"Uh huh," I smirked. "Which is why you look like you're about to burst like a volcano."

"Good idea," Reyna said thoughtfully. "That could be Bobby's new nickname. Volcano."

"It isn't funny as the last one," Bobby said placidly. I had to say that I agreed.

"Oh, shut up," Reyna irritably said. "It wasn't supposed to be!"

"Uh huh," Bobby said, wiggling his eyebrows.

Reyna ignored him from that point on, or at least, _tried_ to.

I snickered as Bobby made sarcastic remarks at Reyna, who was increasingly looking like a volcano herself–one that was about to explode any moment now. Eventually, she attracted the whole school's attention by yelling her head off at Bobby. It was quite funny to see a fuming girl chasing a brown-haired boy around the bathrooms.

"Um, Jason? A little help here!" Bobby called to me as he dashed away from Reyna, who was now in the process of giving him one of her famous death glares while running–not to mention that her hand was creeping ever so slowly to her weapon.

"Knock it off, guys," I said. Obviously, neither Reyna nor Bobby listened–Reyna, because she was too angry, and Bobby because he was not in the proximity to hear me. Too bad, although I couldn't exactly resort to summoning lightning or anything like that. _That_ would get a... um, _little_ out of hand. Who would be able to know if my friends and I got eaten up by a monster?

In fact, as I was thinking that thought, I grasped onto the fact that there was a girl staring hungrily (usually not a good sign) at another girl who was listening to an iPod, compoletely unaware of what was happening around her. Modern techonology is evil, as it can get you killed by monsters.

I cursed in Latin–Reyna wasn't showing any remote signs of stopping chasing Bobby down. I didn't want to make a scene of myself, either, as I was a son of one of the Big Three. I could bet you that all monsters within a billion-mile radius had sensed my presence. Okay, maybe I'm overdoing it, but I think that you get the idea: monsters are drawn to me like crazy–note that I did _not_ say 'attracted'. Bleah, who would want a monster as their date? Maybe, _Echidna and Typhon, sitting in a tree. _I'm better off with Reyna, although (as it is clearly shown now) she can be incredibly shouty at times. Oh, did I just say that? _No, I am _not _dating Reyna._

By this time, that girl I mentioned earlier had swiveled her gaze to me. _Uh-oh_, I thought. I know, wonderful choice of words, huh? But what would _you_ think if there was an incredibly kleptomaniac/psychotic monster staring at you?

Reyna tackled Bobby, which created quite a scene. Everyone started laughing.

Bobby rolled from underneath Reyna and sat up with a tuft of grass in hair. And that's when the hellhounds pounced.


	2. Honda Odysseys Are Murderous

**Iamtotallyluvinmylife, yeah, definetely going work on the 'funny' part. Truthfully, I'm a terrible writer... sorry.  
>iStoleYourBlueMoonIceCream and POWSkyshadow, thanks for... um, liking it! Really appreciate it. <strong>

**HAHA! And I checked my e-mail, too—thanks to Iamtotallyluvinmylife, iStoleYourBlueMoonIceCream, POWSkyshadow, Allofthenamesaretaken, Underworld's-Reject, and DeathonOlympus for 'favoriting' the story! Did I get all of you?**

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><p><strong>Chapter TWO<strong>

The funny thing was that although there were two tasty demigods that were completely in the range of the hellhound's claws, they ignored both of them. This surprised Reyna so much that she almost fainted dead away. As it was, she managed to gather her wits and drew her choice of a weapon—a mechanical pencil.

I know, I know, you're probably thinking, _a pencil. A stupid pencil _**(A**_._**N/ **Mechanical pencils, I know, sounds like Percy's. But I couldn't think of anything else! My friend helped me out.)**** But seriously? I kind of envied her for a cooler weapon than mine. I _still_ didn't have one of those golden coins. I have a plain _gladius_. Right, I'm getting off track.

See, the 'pencil' is actually a curved knife, the end shaped like an owl's beak. Courtesy of her mom, at least Minerva cares about her kids! Daddy Jupiter hasn't sent me a dream vision in, like, forever. Not to mention any gifts.

She snatched her backpack from her back and rummaged around, cursing loudly. The iPod girl's eyes were as huge as pennies as she watched Reyna scrawl something in her 'notebook', then watched in spiral into a shield carved with a picture of an owl.

I guess that Bobby got some credit too. As Reyna was yelling indignantly at her backpack, one of the cute little furry monsters noticed that there was a demigod right in front of its nose. I know, it took _that_ long to notice, but monsters were never known for having brains. It lunged at her, but Bobby drew his sword and sliced it into fur.

"Dang it!" the evil girl screamed at the hellhounds. "_Only_ the son of Jupiter, you dolts! No other demigod is to be harmed!"

I froze as all of the hellhounds turned their fiery red eyes to me. I did the only thing that came to me naturally: I unsheathed my blade and charged them.

Before I got there, though, everyone screamed and scrambled towards the school. I twisted around, trying to see what had happened. I heard a _shick _sound behind me, which probably meant that Reyna and Bobby were engaging and slicing the monsters up. Fun.

The evil girl had completely changed. She wasn't all bright in the first place, but now? Her clothes were black, blacker than black itself. In addition, she looked like a grown woman.

"Um..." I said.

The iPod girl, who was the only one who hadn't ran away, stood paralyzed, her green eyes flickering from me to Reyna and Bobby to the woman.

"W-who are you?" I stammered. Lupa was going to kill me when she heard that I said, _"Oh"_ and _"W-who are you?"_. No Roman bravado.

She stamped her foot, still very much acting like a teenage girl. "Nobody _ever_ knows who I am!" she pouted/complained. "I'm Nemesis, but what would you care? Curses, once Lord Saturn rules again, we minor gods will get the respect that we deserve!"

I blinked. "Okay," I said. "Saturn's a pile of evil mush at the bottom of Teritus. He isn't going to rise anytime soon."

"Whoa. Wait. Hold it," iPod girl stammered. "First of all, _gods_? They're myths! Like, Zeus, Poseidon, Hades—they're... not real."

"Well, _they're_ dead," I agreed. "But the Roman gods are still alive."

"That still doesn't make any sense," she placidly said.

Nemesis crossed her arms with a huff. "As usual," she loudly said, "I'm left out of the conversation as if I never existed!"

"That would be nice," Reyna said, marching over. Her left arm was scratched really badly—nearly mauled. "I'd appreciate it next time if you didn't send hellhounds after us." She winced and cursed soon after her wound started to gush blood.

"Right!" Bobby chimed in. He didn't look great either—he was limping on both legs, and his pants were stained red. Even as a Roman, living around a lot of this kind of stuff, I couldn't help but think, _Ugh,_ as I glanced at either of them.

Nemesis pouted loudly again. "You destroyed my pets!"

"The goddess of revenge has pets?" iPod girl weakly asked. "That's it. Does anyone have a knife? I wanna commit suicide."

"Don't you dare," I said to Reyna.

"I wasn't going to give it to her in the first place," Reyna retorted.

Nemesis glared at me. "You may have avoided me the first time, but not again, _Jason Grace_. Have you checked on your family lately?"

With that optimistic comment, the goddess of revenge disappeared in a poof of black dust.

"Who are you?" the iPod girl asked. "You come up here while I'm innocently listening to music, attack a bunch of demon dogs with medieval weapons—"

"Medieval?"" Bobby incredulously asked. The girl ignored him.

"—Totally ruin my day, and tell me that the gods are alive. How stupid is that?"

I nervously glanced up at the sky, which seemed even more ominous now. "You might not want to say that."

"Who are you?" Reyna asked.

"Hmph. You didn't tell me who _you _were. Why should I tell you who I am?"

"Because you should," Reyna simply said.

The girl threw her hands up in exasperation. "Hazel. Happy? _Now_ will you tell me who you are?"

"No," Bobby immediately said.

"No," I said.

"_Yes_," Reyna snapped, glaring at both of us. Bobby snapped under her intense gaze, and backed away.

"As soon as we get to camp," Reyna added. Hazel groaned. "Camp? What camp? It's not summer vacation. Who goes to camp in the not-yet-summer-vacation?"

"We don't have a pegasus," I pointed out. "And camp is, like, twelve hours away."

Reyna smiled, the kind of smile that always got me wary. "Who needs mythological animals?"

* * *

><p>I made a mental note to never listen to another of Reyna's ideas ever again.<p>

"WHY ARE YOU DOING THIS TO ME?" Bobby screamed as we shot down the highway at about one-hundred miles per hour. Literally. You shouldn't underestimate a twelve-year old, insane person without a driver's license named Reyna driving a stolen Honda Odyssey (what kind of family is dumb enough to leave their car keys on top of their car?). It's a wonder how no police car was chasing us—or maybe it was just because Reyna's crazy driving left them in the dust. At any rate, it wasn't fun.

Hazel was the only one who wasn't turning green, which was a surprise, even Reyna looked sick.

"St-stop th-the c-car!" I yelled, my teeth jittering from the bumpy road that we were now shooting across.

"Not a chance," Reyna said, gritting her teeth. "You wanna get caught by the police, I'll stop."

I kept silent after that. Partly (mostly) because Reyna sped up, and I probably would have bitten my tongue off, and partly because I could hear the faint wail of police sirens.

Bobby somehow banged (rather desperately) on the back of Reyna's seat. "SLOW DOWN!"

"Shut it, Bobby!" Reyna snapped. "I'm trying to drive here—"

"Way to state the obvious," Hazel said. As I said before... she seemed the most calm of all of us.

Reyna ignored her comment and kept on driving like a lunatic that was hyped up on caffeine and sugar. I didn't even know how she managed to figure out all of the dials and switches and pedals—I would have had a crash thirty minutes ago (the same time Reyna started 'how to learn to drive like an alien from the planet Aerotim').

After a few more hours of crazy driving and bumping ambulances and innocent people out of the way (not to mention ignoring red lights), I was just about ready to throw up. Fortunately, the gas tank ran out of gas.

Reyna got out and slammed the door. She retched and rubbed her foot. "I am _never_ going to drive again," she declared.

I stumbled out, dragging poor Bobby. He hadn't been able to withstand the horror of Reyna's driving, and if you ever find a car that was stranded at intersection of 'Walnut Street' and 'Capstone Avenue', expect to find a pool of brown stuff at the bottom... I'm not going to get into details.

Reyna noticed me carrying a passed-out son of Mars. "What's up with him?"

I scowled heavily at her. "He was not able to survive the long and murderous car trip into the middle of nowhere."

We were in the middle of nowhere—the sign said so.


	3. Happy Gobbles Up Bobby's Shoes

**Chapter THREE**

"You literally dropped us in the middle of nowhere," Hazel pointed out unhelpfully.

The sign said: _Welcome To The Middle of Nowhere. We Hope You Enjoy—_

There was a word that was crossed out so heavily that you couldn't possibly read it.

—_Here._

Reyna squinted at the sign. "What kind of place is called _'Welcome To The Middle of Nowhere. We Hope You Enjoy'—_I can't read this part—'_Here_'?"

I studied the flat terrain. "Nothing good, I suppose."

Hazel, meanwhile, was pointing at behind me. "What the heck is that snake-woman thing?"

I blinked. "Snake-woman?"

Reyna gave a small wince and held her arm, as it was bleeding really bad now. Considering that she had droven about five-hundred miles without stopping, it was reasonable.

Hazel gave me a nudge. "It's right next to you."

I swiveled around and found myself face-to-face with this... um, snake-woman. What in Teritus was that _thing_?

Reyna blinked in confusion. "But that's—"

"That's what?" I chirped, stepping away from the monster.

"Echidna," Reyna said as if it should have been obvious. "You know, mother of all monsters? Wife of Typhon?"

"Oh. Right."

I'm sure that my family and Minerva would have been proud of me. Unfortunately... they were all floating around aimlessly around the Underworld, except for Jupiter and Minerva, of course. At any rate, that's what Juno told me. But who knew about gods? For all I knew, my mom could have still been living in our house, and Thalia could've been still arguing with her twenty-four/seven.

There was a swish next to me, and Reyna cut off Echidna's head. "Jason Grace, you didn't even notice that she was holding your hands! What in Teritus is _wrong_ with you?"

"Uhhh," I said aimlessly, still engrossed with the thoughts of the past.

When I was ten, I got this vision of a tree. Out of all things to dream about, it was a stupid _pine tree._ What's so special about a plain old pine tree?

As dumb as it was, I couldn't get that image of the tree our of my head. I was yelled (er, barked) at from Lupa more than one time about daydreaming during legion training.

I know, utterly amazing of me to be daydreaming about trees.

I heard a thump next to me. Oh, that was just wonderful—Reyna had passed out right next to Bobby.

"Help me, will you?" I asked Hazel. She shrugged halfheartedly, and grabbed Bobby's arm, hauling him up. Guess what she did next.

Yep, she slapped him across the face about ten times—and hard.

Bobby's eyes snapped open: "EVIL MUSHROOMS! HELP—"

Hazel kicked him. "Shut up!"

It was really strange, a girl with no training telling a guy that had been battling monsters for seven years to shut up. Needless to say, Bobby didn't shut up.

"AND, AND THERE WAS THIS EXPLODING DONKEY THAT WAS EATING CABBAGE AND CARROTS AND THEN WINNIE THE POOH FLOUNCED UP AND HUGGED ME—"

Bobby closed his mouth and blushed furiously. "Please. Tell me you didn't hear that. You didn't hear that."

Hazel said, "I heard that."

Bobby pouted. "You were supposed to say that you didn't hear that! It's not as if I _like_ Winnie the Pooh!"

"I've learned from plenty of boys," Hazel said pitilessly, "that if someone denies that they like something, they love it."

Bobby actually shut up after that.

"Now that that's settled," Hazel said, "what's up with those girls?"

I turned around. All this turning around was making me dizzy.

Bobby's eyes got wide as soon as he saw the girls. He stammered, which was quite unlike the Bobby I knew: "Uh... um... hi..."

I wasn't doing a lot better. Somewhere in my dazed mind, I heard a small voice saying: _Danger. Stay away from them._ Somehow, it sounded familiar. Unless I had let somebody I knew and liked into my mind, I thought I was going klepto.

The next thing that happened was really ironic.

You know how monsters are supposed to, like, _kill_ you instead of _save _you? This griffin seems to have forgotten.

_Awwwk_! The griffin screeched so loudly that my eardrums popped. Reyna groaned, and stirred on the ground.

A girl wailed: "Noooo! That wasn't supposed to happen—_ACK!_"

The last part was because the griffin chirped, hopped over to her, and gulped her up. _Ewwwww_. I wondered what monsters tasted like.

Unfortunately, I completely forgot about the other girl. She hadn't moved or anything like that (so far), but as soon as the griffin snapped up her partner, she turned red with rage. "Hey! That—you—stinking—Happy!"

The griffin cocked his head. He sat on his haunches (do griffins have haunches?) and gurgled. I supposed his name was 'Happy'. What kind of person names a monster 'Happy'?

"That's better. Leave it to that upstart child of—" the girl said. She stopped abruptly, considering what she was about to say. Apparently, she decided against it. "Now, _boys_, about your death—"

Again, she didn't get to finish what she was going to say, this time because Bobby regained his senses (very much unlike me) and stabbed a sword through her gut. With a screech, she dispersed into a _poof_ of golden light.

Bobby cheerfully hummed the theme song from 'Winne the Pooh' as if nothing had happened. I decided to believe Hazel from now on.

Happy the griffin screeched again. I really did wish that griffins couldn't screech or anything like that.

"Stop yelling!" Reyna yelled, snapping awake. "Who's making that noise, anyways?"

"Not _who_," Hazel corrected. "_What_." She motioned towards Happy. "Ta-da!"

Reyna frowned at it, and Happy made a face at her. He ruffled his feathers indignantly as if to say, _Are we going or not?_

"Happy's right," I decided.

Reyna looked at me as if I was insane. "_You named that monster _'Happy'?"

I shrugged. "Somebody else named him that, I'm just using that name."

Reyna struggled to get up. "Whatever. All I know is that this 'Happy' griffin is a mean of transport. Are we going to go or not?"

Did Reyna have telepathy lessons with Happy? I decided to ask her once we got to the Legion Camp. Although it was very unlikely.

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><p><em>Dun-dun-dun-DUN!<em>

"Is anyone singing Beethoven's Fifth Symphony?" Reyna asked, breaking the silence. Her hair was whipping around her as if they were angry blond snakes.

"I don't hear anything," Hazel said after another moment of awkward silence.

Happy the griffin squealed sharply, angled his wings, and plummeted down towards the ground at a 180 degree angle. We were still on his back.

I held onto something, _anything_, for dear life. Only later did I realize that I was hugging Hazel, and she didn't appreciate it at all.

_WHOOOOOM!_

At least, that's what I imagined. The truth? We were a two feet away from hitting the ground face-first when Happy snapped his wings out. We descended into a steep glide, and landed with barely a thump.

I rolled off the griffin, retching.

Reyna had collapsed again, and Hazel was trying to lug her off the griffin, who was munching on what looked suspiciously like Bobby's shoe. My suspicions were confirmed when Bobby started hopping on one foot, telling Happy in a stern voice to never eat a shoe again. Happy snorted and grunted. I doubted that he was actually listening to Bobby lecturing, and I can totally understand that.

Hazel had managed to set Reyna on the ground. Reyna moaned. Lupa was going to tear her to bits if she heard about this.

"Okay, okay," I said, trying not to hyperventilate. "Bobby, Hazel, help me_—"_

Too late. A reddish-brown wolf stepped out of the shadows of the Wolf House. Lupa's calculating and cold gaze landed on Reyna. _Well, well. What do we have here? A weak daughter of Minerva._

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><p><strong>Not too many review lately, but I still appreciate the 5 reviews that I got!<strong>

**But I would like it more if you reviewed it or something like that. I'm sorry if I'm sounding pushy, but reviews motivate me! ****But if you don't have time to review, I understand. **

**~RomanGreekDemi[gods]**


	4. Somebody's Got A Crush

**I know, Saffa :):). But what's the fun without a hero at a school? I thought of starting out the fanfiction with Jason at the Legion camp, but it just didn't appeal to me...**

**David-El, I searched for Nemesis's Roman form, but it came up as—Nemesis. Thanks for the... um, I can't find the word... but THANKS! :):)  
><strong>

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><p><strong>Chapter FOUR<strong>

"Weak?" Hazel asked. "_Weak_? What are you talking about, you mangy old—"

Hazel said a word so bad that I was sure that whoever her godly parent was, he or she would be silently groaning in shame.

Lupa's eyes glittered. _Watch your l__anguage, girl. If I wanted kill you, I could have done that a minute ago. Now, keep silent while I decide what to do with this—_

Hazel absolutely refused to shut her mouth. I was sure that Lupa would feed her to the wolves. "Keep silent? I'm not gonna listen to a wolf, don't tell me to keep silent! She's _not_ weak, she went through with driving a car for five kajillion miles without stopping when she had this huge gash on her arm, wolf!"

Lupa's ears twitched. _Nevertheless, Romans don't just 'pass out' like Reyna did over there. She must be punished for her incompetence to deal with pain. _

My stomach clenched. "But, Lupa," I began.

_No buts. I will give her one hour to recover. If she is not awake by then, we will wake her up immediately and we send her into the Coliseum. _

I froze. "What? You can't send her—"

"Into the Coliseum!" Bobby yelled. Me and Hazel jumped. He had been so quiet that I had almost forgotten that he was there.

"The Coliseum's supposed to be only reserved for newcomers," Bobby said. Hazel frowned.

"—Or betrayers and prisoners who deserted the Legion Camp. You can't do this to Reyna! When was the last time you sent someone into the Coliseum just because they passed out from sheer pain?"

Lupa was on him in an instant. _If you don't enjoy the idea of sending Reyna into the Coliseum, Quaestor, would you like me to send her in right now and have _you_ do the honors of killing her? _

Bobby gulped. "N-no, but still—"

Lupa pressed him into the ground even deeper.

"Fine!" Bobby yelled with resignation. "Fine!"

Lupa calmly got off of Bobby and shook her fur. _Jason, get Augustus to watch over her._

"Can I?" I pleaded.

_No. Get the son of Mars, _now!

I hastily bowed and raced towards the first legion's bunker, feeling Lupa's cold and baleful gaze behind me, sinking into my back.

"Reyna," I muttered to myself. "Please, _please,_ wake up."

* * *

><p>Gwendolyn interrogated me as soon as I stepped foot in the bunker, her brown eyes full of worry. "I heard that Lupa—"<p>

"Sentenced Reyna to the Coliseum if she didn't wake up within an hour!" I snapped. "And she told me to get Augustus to guard her."

Gwendolyn turned pale. "Say _what_? Lupa can't—but—why—?"

Augustus was the half-brother of Bobby, but he was by far more ruthless.

With a heavy heart, I reluctantly knocked on the blood-red door of the Mars part of the First Legion's bunker.

The rock music that was blaring from the speakers nearly knocked me down as the door blew open. The whole bunker reverberated with the bass that was bearing down on the elegantly-tiled marble floor.

One of Augustus's siblings, Matt, glared at me. It didn't matter to them that I was Praetor of their Legion, they never welcomed anyone properly (except Bobby)—except their own siblings.

"Whaddya want, punk?" Matt scowled.

"I want to see Augustus," I told him. "Lupa wants him."

Matt curtly nodded, and disappeared within the room. A couple moments later, I heard heavy footsteps.

"Hey, Jason," Augustus said. "Say that Lupa wants me? For what?"

I cringed—almost. "Reyna passed out."

Augustus arched an eyebrow. "She did?"

"Yes," I said.

"Blast that," Augustus said. "Tell Lupa that I'm not guarding her."

I jolted. "W-_what_? Lupa'll tear you alive for disobeying her!"

"I told you," Augustus said indifferently. "Blast what Lupa said. She can do whatever she wants with me—whip me a hundred times, I don't care. For the last time, Jason: _I—am—not—guarding—Reyna_. Period."

I saw a flash of pity cross his eyes when he said that, and that wasn't typical of him. For the first time, I wondered if Augustus actually _liked_ Reyna. That thought was so disturbing that I shook it from my mind.

"In fact," Augustus said, "I'm coming with you to tell Lupa that in person."

I shakily walked out of the First Legion's headquarters, my knees quaking. For the first time in the history of _Castra Romana_, somebody had disobeyed Lupa. Wait, make that the second. Or the third? I thought that Bobby had just had an argument with Lupa, as with Hazel.

Hazel... she was really rebellious. I wondered who her parent was.

Lupa bounded over to me. _I see that you brought—_

Augustus marched up to Lupa, respectfully bowing. He straightened quickly. "I'm not going to guard Reyna," he said. Straight and to the point.

Lupa cocked her head as if she hadn't heard correctly. _Repeat?_

"I will not guard Reyna," Augustus said, enunciating each word clearly. "I absolutely refuse, Lupa."

Lupa growled. _By Saturn, what is wrong with today's events? First, Jason brings back a passed-out Reyna and the new recruit, Hazel, has to lug her off the griffin. Then, she has an argument with me about Reyna not being weak. Bobby soon followed. And now you?_

There was a pause.

_No matter, _Lupa said. _She's going to the Coliseum right _now. _Hazel's assessment can wait until Reyna is finished._

"Finished?" Augustus asked disbelievingly.

"Finished?" I snapped. "_Finished?_"

_Finished,_ Lupa calmly said. _But as she is a rather good fighter, I will impose a condition: If she survives for twelve hours in the arena with only two major injuries or less and is still conscious, I will spare her. Otherwise, yes, _finished.

I was stunned. "Lupa, the record of staying alive in the Coliseum is _ten minutes_ when not doing an assessment. How can Reyna survive for an hour? It's utterly impossible."

Lupa bared her teeth in what seemed like a wolfish smile. _Don't underestimate her,_ she said. _After all, she _is _a daughter of Minerva, goddess of wisdom and battle. She will have to devise a... plan. Which is why her team always wins in Capture the Flag. Do you doubt her strategies? If she was as good as a fighter as you, Jason, I would appoint her as consul without a second thought._

Obviously, Lupa thought very highly of Reyna. She was just annoyed by her 'unableness to cope with injuries' (as if!). But the First Legion hasn't had a consul for centuries. Lupa had told me that if _I _had better strategies than charging into battle immediately, she would appoint me as consul. So basically, if _I _had Reyna's brains and _she_ had my fighting skill, we would both probably be appointed consul.

_Well? What are you waiting for?_ Lupa snarled. _Get Reyna and wake her. Send her to the Coliseum.  
><em>


	5. Of Monsters and Hot Pink Bunnies

**I usually don't do dedications, but thanks to iStoleYourBlueMoonIceCream for reviewing all the chapters (excluding the Author's Note). The chapter is dedicated to her or him. **

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><p><strong>Chapter FIVE<strong>

It wasn't looking good. Reyna was shivering, and her arm was still bleeding like somebody turned a waterspout of blood on. Oh, and not to mention it was absolutely disgusting (no duh).

But at least she was awake. If Reyna had been asleep... well, she would get killed within a second of being thrown into the arena.

"I know, I know," Reyna interrupted before either Augustus or I could say anything. "Lupa sentenced me to the Coliseum."

"How could you say that so _calmly_?" Augustus asked.

Reyna glared at him. "Well, it's not as if I'll survive. Just get the pain over with and I'll go to the Underworld. Simple as that!"

I pulled her aside. "Reyna, listen," I desperately said. "Lupa told me and Augustus that if you survive for twelve hours in the Coliseum with at most two major injuries and you survive, she'll let you go."

Reyna studied me and her eyes widened. "Jason Grace, I absolutely _forbid_ you to do that! No way! You're the camp's best fighter, but even _you_ can't survive for five minutes in there. One life lost is better than two, and even if you manage it, Lupa will kill you!"

"I'll just do it quietly," I said not-so-quietly.

By this point, I was sure that Reyna would deck me right then and there. She kicked me instead. "No is no, Sparky. Get used to it."

"I can't let you die!" I cried. I probably had a crazed look in my eyes, but Reyna would not take the 'I'm-going-into-the-Coliseum-with-you-don't-ask-questions' answer.

"Jason," she growled. "I'm giving you five seconds to get me to the Coliseum. And do _not_ follow me."

Augustus walked over. "Are you ready?"

Reyna stood up. "Just take me to the *unidentified word* Coliseum."

Lupa was waiting outside. Without a word, she beckoned Reyna to come to her. They walked off towards the looming shadow of death.

Reyna threw a look over her shoulder at me. I knew what the message was and I sat down on the ground miserably. I buried my head in my hands, wondering if I would ever see Reyna again.

"What was Reyna telling you?" three voices asked at once.

I looked up, my eyes sort of misty. I caught the blurred figures of Augustus, Bobby, and Hazel.

I cast a feverish glance at the retreating figures of the wolf and the girl. "Well... you know that Lupa said to Reyna that if she lives in the Coliseum for twelve hours, she'll free her?"

"Yes," Bobby said nonchalantly.

"I knew that Reyna would never survive in there, so I offered to go in with her."

Dead silence.

"What?" I demanded.

"Well," Bobby said, "if you're going in, I am too."

* * *

><p>Well, there was a shocker.<p>

I said something really intelligent like: "Um..."

I probably looked like a fish out of water. Hazel said so.

Hazel stampled the ground in fustration. "This place is so boring. When can I go and blow things up with dynamite? That's what I do every day after school!"

The poor girl doesn't have a life. Who blows things up with an explosive?

"Did you ever get, um, punished?" Augustus asked.

Hazel looked at him as if he were crazy. "Yeah. What, did you expect the police to just waltz right under the rubble of the hospital?"

"Then..." Bobby said. "How did you escape?"

"I just did," Hazel simply said.

"That clears everything up," I said. "Can I go now?"

"Go... where?" Augustus asked. He's acting so much not like Augustus today, it's like the world is ending.

"To the Coliseum, dummy!" Bobby said. "Shouldn't it be obvious? Everybody knows that Jason likes Reyna."

Augustus looked like somebody had just stuck two knives in his chest. I was probably on fire.

"W-what?" I asked, furiously blushing. "_I do not like Reyna!_"

"Uh huh," Bobby said, wiggling his eyebrows.

"This is getting mushy," Hazel complained. "Are you going or not?"

Relieved to be steered towards a different topic, I nodded. "I'm going, now."

"And I'm going with you," Bobby reminded me.

"Um, right," I muttered.

"Don't be so negative," Augustus coached. He probably would have said something else had I not cut in.

"Yeah," I said. "I'm going into the arena of death, and I shouldn't be pessimistic. Right."

Before anyone else could say something (it looked like Hazel was going to start babbling any second, judging from the expression on her face), I slipped behind some shadows and headed towards the Coliseum.

Bobby appeared next to me. "Remember," he said, "'save' is spelled like this: s-a-v-e."

I looked at him exasperatedly. "Did we really need to know that, Bobby?"

"No," he said, pouting. "I was just giving some encouragement."

"Some encouragement that was!" I grumbled. "That just put about a million pounds more pressure on me."

The other billion pounds was because Reyna was being shuffled into the Coliseum by Lupa. It was now or never.

"A-a-all r-r-r-right," I said, my teeth chattering from what I was about to do. "Get behind me, Bobby."

Being the son of Zeus, lord of the air, can have some nice benefits. It _totally_ repays for the hoard of monsters that come pouring after me as soon as I set foot out of camp.

Right, I'm getting off track. The point being, I could control the air around me—aerokinesis. So, I could fly and bend the air around me to be like I'm not there, and although I never tried the aerokinesis to this extent, I could probably attack with the wind and air.

Of course, I would be using 'bending' to make Bobby and I invisible to all passerby. Unfortunately, it took a lot of my energy, and I probably wouldn't be able to summon a good old-fashioned lightning bolt. Hmph. Unfair.

I concentrated to manipulate the air to bend towards my will. I felt a breeze wrap around Bobby and I, and knew that I was successful.

I sneaked past Lupa just as the reddish-brownish she-wolf closed the gates. Lupa raised her head, motionless as she closed the doors. I stood perfectly still, sweating. Bobby fidgeted next to me.

Apparently, Lupa didn't see anything and stalked away, which was just about the right time I lost control of the air and the invisibility 'shield' dispersed around me. We were in.

* * *

><p>The Coliseum is able to magically adjust itself to whatever need it was required to do. If there was a new initiate, which would happen to Hazel very soon, it would be like the ancient Coliseum in Ancient Rome. If it was used to punish somebody, like what was happening to Reyna at this instant, it would transform into some kind of wild environment. Currently, it was an Arctic wonderland. It would have been perfect for polar bears and penguins, but with a demigod in a purple T-shirt and jeans? Nuh-uh.<p>

Back to Reyna: she was cursing and tripping all over the place as she tried to gain some footing on the slippery ice. Needless to say, me and Bobby were slipping too.

"_Amphitheatrum Flavium_," she muttered, "is the stupidest thing that Romans have ever built."

She kicked aside a small penguin (wow!) that got rather interested in her shoelace. It squawked, flapped its flippers like a chicken, and waddled away as fast as it could.

By now, goose bumps had appeared on my arms and I was freezing to death. Bobby wasn't faring much better. It was surprising that Reyna wasn't even shivering, since I was an icicle.

"W-whe-when a-are w-we g-g-go-going t-t-to g-g-ge-get o-o-ou-out o-of h-h-he-here?" Bobby stammered, his jaw in a blur because at the speed his jawbone was rattling.

"W-well," I chattered, "n-no-nobo-n-nobody a-ask-asked y-y-you t-to c-c-co-come w-wi-with m-m-m-me!"

Reyna kept on muttering to herself as she trudged on. An hour later, she threw her hands up in exasperation. I was a Jasonsicle.

"Why in _Pluto's realm_ did Lupa put me here? Did she want to freeze me to death? It isn't working!"

"_Isn't working_?" I yelled, and then realized my mistake when Reyna whipped her head towards me and Bobby.

"Oops," I said, feeling Reyna's cold gaze right on me.

"Oops?" Reyna scowled/shouted. "You follow me into the freaking arena and you say, 'Oops'?"

Bobby nudged me. "I think that she's giving us one second to run for it," he whispered to me. "Should we run now?"

Now, that was a first: a child of Mars wanting to run away from a fight.

Reyna glared. Bobby asked fearfully, "Please?"

"I'm counting to three," Reyna snapped, "to _leave_ before I kill you right here and now. Didn't I specifically tell you, Jason, _not to follow me_?"

"Um..." I said.

"Are you going to kill me?" Bobby asked. A rather stupid question, if you ask me.

"Oh, no," Reyna said, her voice heavily laced with sarcasm. "Why in Pluto did you follow him, you idiot? You should have _stopped _him when you had the chance!"

Bobby stayed silent, which was a good choice to make.

"Three," Reyna started.

"Um, Reyna?" I nervously asked, since she can tend to blow up at times like this. "Would..."

"Two."

"Do we run now?" Bobby asked.

"One." Reyna glared at us, warning us that it was now or never: if we went away now, she wouldn't hack us into bits.

"Hey, what's up with that hellhound?" Bobby asked, nodding his head at a black shadow that was hurtling towards us.

"Maybe Lupa doesn't want you to freeze to death," I noted.

"Shut up, Grace."

All right, I'll admit that that wasn't the best comment to make at a time like this.

Reyna ducked as the hellhound leaped at her, its mouth slavering for a juicy meal of demigod. It landed on the ground with a thump, and shook its fur free of snow: "I am a hellhound."

Reyna was so surprised that she threw a snowball at me. It hit me smack in the face, and I got a mouthful of snow.

"You're a what?" Bobby asked.

The hellhound grumbled and picked itself up. "Lupa told me to kill the girl, not two boys that happen to be loitering around in the Coliseum. Shall I tell her about this?"

"You're talking," Bobby stammered. "A talking hellhound."

"What's so surprising about that?" the hellhound sniffed. "You can see plenty of hellhounds that can talk like me. And my name Kyle! It's the talking hot pink bunnies you need to watch out for."


	6. Laughter For Fifteen Minutes Straight

**Chapter SIX**

If you want to completely disappoint me, plop a talking hellhound named 'Kyle' right in front of my face.

"Hot pink bunnies?" Reyna asked. "Bunnies that are hot pink? Apart from being the Venus cabin's favorite mascot, they're utterly pointless. What in Pluto's realm can a _hot pink bunny_ do to a demigod? The very thought!"

Kyle answered, "I just remembered that I wasn't supposed to tell you that! Can we go back to the subject of killing you and telling Lupa that those two boys sneaked into the arena and—"

"Give you some crunchy dog treats? Like, maybe buy a bag of _Innova_ dog food and give it to you?" Bobby cut in.

"I would very much prefer demigod," Kyle sniffed. "Which means _you_."

"Thank you very much for your consideration," I muttered. "We didn't know that, Kyle the talking dog. We're just regular mortals that happened to stumble upon—"

"Close your mouth," Reyna irritably said. "You aren't making anything better, and I have half a mind to get you to Lupa as soon as I get out of the freaking arena now."

To prevent Reyna from being sure that she would do that, I kept silent.

"Okay," Bobby said. "Now, what's up with these 'talking hot pink binkies?'"

"Binkies?" asked Kyle. "What in Caesar's name is a binkie?"

I crossed my mind that the hellhound just swore.

Not that it was a particularly scary swear but being said by a 20-foot long giant, pitch-black mastiff gave it some power.

"Whatever, forget about what they're called. Why in Jupiter's name—"

Just then, the clouds thundered.

"—Sorry, sorry why in the gods' name are these cute, fluffy... hot pink bunnies so scary?" asked Bobby.

"Duh, because of their pretty pink awesomeness," Kyle said knowingly.

"And I thought that you weren't supposed to tell us about this," Reyna muttered under her breath.

Neither Bobby nor Kyle seemed to hear her comment.

"Right now, what exactly do they do that is so scary by using their hot pink awesomeness?" Bobby questioned.

"Oh, it's really scary," Kyle shivered. "They kiss you—"

"_Kiss _you?" I incredulously asked. "Kiss you?"

"—A-a-and you turn into a hot pink fluffy bunny! AHHH!" screamed Kyle.

It took him several fretful minutes to crawl out of the 50-feet deep pit that he dig in his nervousness. I never knew that hellhounds would be scared of peaceful hot pink bunnies that just happened to kiss you—but then again, I wouldn't exactly want to turn into a hot pink bunny. Number one, they're hot pink, and number two, I do not want to become a vegetarian that kisses mammals and reptiles and amphibians (that could get disgusting. Kissing a frog? No thanks, I'll take a pass).

Just then, who should hop up but a hot pink bunny, and kiss Kyle right on his 5-foot long fang.

Poof! He turned right in to a hot pink fluffy bunny. It sniffed curiously at my feet.

Suddenly, a whole army of little pink bunnies hop over the edge of the hill. Their button-black eyes were spearing me right through the middle.

"Are you thinking what I'm thinking?" I asked in a small voice.

"RUN!" screamed Bobby and Reyna in unison.

The logical thing would be to bolt. But that wasn't what I was thinking.

"No," I said, drawing my _gladius_. "We stay and fight."

"By Pluto's realm, Jason," Reyna said. "I don't think that we can kill—Bobby, NO!"

Bobby had drew his sword and threw it at the assembly of hot pink bunnies. It sparked harmlessly off of their fur, surprisingly, and landed within the now writhing mass of hot pink fur.

Bobby ground his teeth. "Great. Now what?"

In an attempt to kill one, I experimentally slashed at a bunny. Just as expected, the weapon bounced off the bunny in a cascade of sparks.

"I remember this now," Reyna said. It was obvious that she had read about these mutated hot pink bunnies somewhere in a book or scroll or whatnot. "These hot pink bunnies can only be killed by either some sort of metal—the _Expert's Guide to Roman Monsters_ said so—"

"What's the '_Expert's Guide to Roman Monsters_'?" Bobby asked, obviously unmoved.

"Shut up and listen! I don't know what sort of metal can kill it, but it's definitely not Imperial Gold. The other thing is—"

She didn't have time to finish. The hot pink bunnies suddenly started bounding towards us, squeaking and chirping in ridiculously high voices.

"_Braccas mes vescemi_, bunnies," Bobby cursed. "And I lost my only weapon."

"And that's why you're so hopeless," Reyna briskly said, a curious gleam in her eyes.

I shoved her and hissed in her ear, "You know how much Bobby hates to be shown down, Owl Head! Why in Jupiter's true name are you provoking him?"

To say someone's true name is the worst insult in demigod history. So if you say someone's true name and the person knows it, you're basically asking for suicide. Unfortunately, I didn't know Dad's true name. Shame that.

"Don't curse, Sparky," Reyna chided. "And do me a favor: _shut up_. I have my reasons."

That coming from a girl that usually curses at everything that she hates... but for the sake of her, I kept quiet. Of course, that has not worked very well so far.

Bobby turned as red as a tomato. I wouldn't be surprised if he decked Reyna right there and then.

"Well?" Reyna invited. "You too scared to attack me? I wonder why Lupa even _let_ you enter camp."

I kicked her, and she retaliated by doing nothing.

Bobby charged her and Reyna scooted out of the way. Right then, the pair of bunnies that were closest to Bobby screeched and exploded into pieces of fur. Actually, all of them exploded and we received a downpour of hot pink pieces of fur. My shirt was ruined. Trust me, you do _not_ want hot pink bunny fur on your clothes.

"And _that's_ the other way how you destroy hot pink bunnies," Reyna giggled, seeing the looks on me and Bobby's faces. "Bobby being incredibly stupid."

"Reyna!" Bobby snapped. "Be serious!"

"I _am_ being serious!" she protested, but with her face nailed in laughter mode, it was very hard to believe her.

I raised an eyebrow skeptically. "Reyna."

It took another five minutes before she stopped laughing. Well, she was still laughing, but she was laughing silently. Don't ask me how somebody holds their breath and laughs for fifteen minutes straight, because I don't want to know. Ask Reyna (although she'll probably just run a sword through your gut).

"STOP LAUGHING!" Bobby lost it and started ranting, stomping around the hard-packed snow.

The scene just made Reyna double over, and eventually, fall down on the ground, writhing with laughter.

"Argh!" Bobby ran towards Reyna, who had the good sense to jump and and start running. But she still hadn't stopped laughing yet. You know, it's an incredibly funny sight when you see a guy who is splattered with pink bits and bots of fur chasing a girl who is laughing her head off.


	7. Dead Meat

**Chapter SEVEN**

Reyna really wasn't going to stop laughing her head off. After fifteen minutes, she paused for about a millisecond and proceeded to start laughing for another hour straight. If she had time, she could make the swim team. Laughing for sixty minutes and counting—continuously—had to be a world record. Of course, Reyna swam pretty well, but it wasn't exactly her strong suit.

Bobby had enough of it and he kept on yelling at Reyna to shut up. Of course, it wasn't working.

No more monsters came near for the rest of the Coliseum punishment, which was really boring and I spent most of my time poking the snowy ground with a frost-bitten stick, vaguely listening to Reyna and Bobby argue. So I was nearly frightened out of my wits when somebody tapped me on the shoulder.

"Fancy meeting me?" Hazel whispered smugly right in my ear.

"Oh my gods!" I screamed, consequently causing Reyna and Bobby to stop bickering to see what in the name of the gods was wrong. Reyna almost lost it when she saw Hazel calmly rolling a snowball.

"You too?" Reyna exploded. "How many people—"

"What?" Hazel demanded. "I was innocently strolling around the camp, not liking what I was seeing, and I land in here with no recollection of how the heck I _got_ here, and you have the nerve to start yelling at me?"

Reyna spluttered like a monkey that was sniveling underwater. "But the Coliseum is _magic-proof_!"

"Huh?" Hazel cluelessly asked.

"You aren't supposed to just 'appear' here," Reyna started, but Hazel gave her the _shut up _look.

With a ridiculously silly smile plastered on her face, Hazel rolled her snowball, humming something that sounded suspiciously like _Jingle Bells_.

After a couple minutes of this awkwardness, Hazel peered over the horizon and laughed. "Hot pink bunnies don't really exist, do they?" she asked, her maniac smile fading.

"Cute," Reyna muttered, still disgruntled.

Bobby nudged her. "Are you sure you know what you're saying?"

Reyna whipped her head around to stare at the lone hot pink bunny that had appeared out of nowhere. "Wait a moment. Did you just happen to say... _hot pink bunny_?"

* * *

><p>"So if I be extremely stupid," Bobby whispered to Reyna a few minutes later when we were all crammed behind a snowy bush, "the hot pink bunny will die?"<p>

The hot pink bunny had come from the part of the arena that was totally the stark opposite of the snowy winter wonderland that we were currently in. The part of the Coliseum that seemed to be the exact middle of the torture zone—to say, the Coliseum—was a raging hot desert, probably full of nasty little surprises; a rattlesnake here, a pit full of desert jack-in-the-boxes there (What? They're _real_!).

Reyna rolled her eyes and mumbled something that suspiciously sounded like an extremely bad curse to me. "You dumb idiot!" she snapped as quietly as a person could snap. "Stupid! Stupid! Argh!"

"Um," Bobby said, "will you get to the point? Not everybody is as smart as you!"

Reyna let out an exaggerated sigh as Hazel casually (and pointlessly) continued to make a snowman.

"What are you trying to do?" I asked Hazel, who didn't look up from her now huge base of the snowman. "Get into the Guinness Book of World Records for making the largest snowball/snowman in the whole entire universe?"

Hazel shrugged. "No." She poked the six-foot tall/wide snowball and frowned. "How did I ever get it this big?"

"I don't like it," Bobby immediately said. Reyna fumed besides him. I could swear the the snow was melting around her.

"Why?" Hazel asked, seemingly offended.

"It's bigger than me." Bobby stared at her as if it should have been obvious, which it obviously wasn't.

"This is so epically hopeless," Reyna snapped, her face bright red. "There's a hot pink bunny that could kiss you any moment over there, and you are debating over why the snowball is bigger than Bobby or some dumb thing like that. I've never heard a more pointless conversation!"

She was a totally different girl from when she was two minutes ago.

The hot pink bunny hopped to our bush.

"Um, I think that we should run," I whispered loudly.

Reyna exploded out of the bushes without warning, leaving the rest of us to follow her or get turned into fluffy hot pink bunnies. I chose the second option.

* * *

><p>"All right," Bobby panted after we had been running in the other half of the Coliseum for about an hour. "Why did you go into the desert place, Reyna?"<p>

"Shut up! Would you have liked to turn into a hot pink bunny, Bobby?"

Bobby kept quiet. Whether it was because he didn't have a retort or was just plain out tired (like I was) and conserving his energy, I don't know.

We tripped through dry, scraggly bushes, brambles, and steered clear of the occasional rattlesnake for another half-hour. Hazel nearly got bitten by one as she accidentally tripped over a rock.

Suddenly, the gong rang. That ended the Coliseum torture zone.

A shadow loomed over me as I found myself lying on stony floor. _Jason Grace, just what exactly are you doing with Reyna in the Coliseum?_

Oh, gods. I could sense a whipping as surely as the gods are real.

"Um..."

_Very apt response,_ Lupa said icily. _And why was Bobby and Hazel with you, Praetor?_

I stammered as Reyna kicked me out of the way.

"Don't blame him," she said.

I had no idea what Reyna was planning right now, but it didn't sound really good.

Lupa inclined her head. _And why is that?_

Reyna turned red as she managed to get out, "Because... because, I wanted him to come with me."

* * *

><p><strong>Wow, that was a dumb ending to this chapter. Oooooh, what's going to happen to Reyna? Apparently, she "broke the rules" for a second time. Seems that that girl is a lodestone for trouble.<strong>_  
><em>


	8. Mentally Distorted Pine Trees

**Chapter EIGHT**

Lupa whipped her head around to pierce the unfortunate daughter of Minerva with her eyes. _Is that so? Then I see that it is suitable that you be_—

"Stop it!" I snapped to Reyna. "It's—"

Before I knew it, Reyna had slapped a piece of duct tape (that appeared out of nowhere) over my mouth. "Don't bother to listen to him, Lupa," she said innocently, "I think that he is a little bit crazy due to concern for my safety for...what was it, twelve hours?"

Lupa sat on her haunches and studied Reyna suspiciously, who had never, _ever_ in her days at camp, disobeyed the red wolf.

_I see,_ Lupa growled, _then after Hazel's assessment...we will decide what to do with you._

There was a gleam in Lupa's eyes that suggested that, as usual, the she-wolf had already laid out everything that was going to happen.

Reyna noticed the light as well, and a troubled expression flashed over her face momentarily. A second later, it had vanished, replaced by her usual brisk feature.

Hazel, meanwhile, was on a whole different table. "Assessment? What are you gonna do, throw me in the woods—" she gestured towards the large, dark, and overall, rather menacing woods "—with nothing to defend myself and see how long I can survive?"

Lupa tilted her head. _You're a feisty one._

Bobby almost turned around to laugh, but apparently thought better of it with Lupa right in front of him.

_Sadly,_ Lupa growled, _that will not be the case. You will be in the Coliseum_—__

"Say _what_?"

Lupa's muzzle was a foot away from Hazel's face. I had to give it to her, she didn't flinch. _Peace, little pup. I have not finished my sentence yet._

Hazel muttered something under her breath that nobody could catch, and Lupa proceeded with explaining.

_You will be in the Coliseum to fight me. _

I'm sure that everybody expected Hazel to break down at that very thought. Almost everybody else did. Bobby and Reyna seemed more at attention, waiting to see how the demigod would react.

"Um...okay," Hazel said, nonchalant. "Was that supposed to be surprising?"

Lupa studied Hazel with a new found respect. _In precisely an hour's time._ Lupa barked wolfishly. _Be there in an hour. Praetor! You take the two others to their daily activities. Summon the alpha male and tell him to take Hazel to the Coliseum. NOW!_

I hastily bowed, Reyna and Bobby following my lead. Hazel just looked at me, like _You seriously do that to her?_

I was sure that Lupa wouldn't hesitate to turn Hazel in to wolf chow by this point.

I scrambled off with Bobby and Reyna at my heels in search of Cicero.

I dropped Reyna off at archery and Bobby at sword fighting, proceeding to the wolves' lair.

I know, I know, it's really strange that Lupa named a wolf after a great Roman orator. But Cicero had this way of calming everybody down with a single bark or yap. And besides, he was excellent in a fight.

I stopped in front of a rock cliff, knocking against the limestone wall three times. "Hey! Cicero! Aeneas! Any wolf in there?

The wall vanished and a big silvery-gray beast stood at the entrance. _Praetor,_ the wolf murmured. Aurelia flicked her ears. _Come in. Cicero has been expecting you._

I shivered and stepped into the dank and dark cave.

It smelled really musty in the wolf lair. It had a...well, obviously, wolfish smell in the air. But it was mixed with the disturbing smell of festering flesh_—_the leftover bits of meat that the wolves had forgotten to scrape off the bones_—_and wolves can't exactly clean up after themselves. But once a month, the cabin unlucky enough to be chosen for pooper-scooper patrol gets to clean up the cave. Lupa let me off because the fifty members of the wolf pack go to the bathroom _a lot_ and I'm the only one in the Jupiter bunker. I'm grateful (as I should be!).

The narrow hall suddenly split into a huge cavern, dripping with spears of rock. At the very back of the cave sat a huge, silvery-white wolf that was about the same size as Lupa, if not bigger.

"Cicero." I respectfully bowed. "You've been...expecting me?"

_Lupa told me that there was a new pup,_ Cicero growled softly. _Will you lead me to her?_

I nodded and waved a hand. "Follow me, Cicero."

Cicero got up and padded to my side and flattened his ears. _Lead the way, then, son of Jupiter._

We walked in silence as we wound across the narrow hallway. Random thoughts started whizzing around my head. Especially that image of that pine tree.

It was obviously meant to be an important image. But really, a _pine tree_? It's not special to me in any way, thought, or form.

_It was sent to you for a reason,_ Cicero told me as we trudged_—_in Cicero's case, padded_—_along the rocky ground.

I jumped. "What do you mean?"

_The pine tree,_ Cicero replied, glancing over his shoulder to make sure we weren't being watched. _It is special to you. It is special to you in _every _way, thought, and form. It is a connection to your past. It is the one thing that you have left to treasure outside the Legion camp._

I took a sharp intake of oxygen and exhaled. "How do you know?" I flinched immediately after that as my Nike sneakers landed into a pool of urine.

Cicero padded onwards, seemingly not noticing my wet sneakers. _You know, little pup?_

"No," I said, "I don't know what you're talking about._"_

_You do, Jason Grace, _Cicero calmly purred. _You've known about it ever since your birth._

I flashed back to a memory. I was quiet for a long time. "No, that's not possible," I firmly said.

_Believe what you want, son of Jupiter,_ Cicero said, his growl reverberating through the ground. _But remember what I told you, Grace, a few months from now. Remember what I said one year from now. Remember what I told you two years later. Remember it, even three, four years later. Lupa would have my hide if she caught me telling this to you._ Cicero paused, obviously checking for any unwanted visitors and added softly, Especially _four years later._

I was puzzled. "Why four years?"

Cicero stopped abruptly. He looked at me seriously, his deep brown eyes full of age-old wisdom. _Listen to me, Jason. What is the thing that you treasure most, in your whole life? Would you be risking your life to protect that person, place, or thing? Would you fight all of the monsters Pluto has to offer to protect that person, place, or thing?_

I answered, "I know what the thing I love the most in the world, and...she's gone. If she were still alive, I would do anything in my power to protect her. I would fight anything, anyone to save the life of that person."

Cicero flicked his tail dismissively. _Then you know why the pine tree was placed in your memory. You know why it is so important to you._

The problem was, I _didn't_ get it. "Going back to my original question," I said, "how do you know about the person I loved the most?"

Cicero mournfully looked at me. _Some things are best to stay hidden, little pup. Someday, you will understand._

"But_—_but_—_" I groped for an answer and sighed, frustrated. "Please, just tell me!"

_I cannot._ Cicero's eyes flashed. _I have already told you as much as I could, Jason. Do not prod. As I said, all things will be answered later. _

"How much later?" I asked.

We stepped out of the mouth of the cave. I continued babbling.

"One year? Two years?"

_Enough of this conversation,_ Cicero growled. _Lead me._

Annoyed, I stalked over to where Hazel was arguing with Lupa. Dropping Cicero off, I stomped away without another word. But deep inside, I knew that I had not right to behave this way to Cicero. If he was speaking the truth...

Would it be true that the pine tree had something to do with my older sister?


	9. Oaths Broken

**Chapter NINE**

It got out of hand as soon as Hazel stepped foot in the Coliseum.

Attendance to the assessment for a new camper was mandatory unless you were running some sort of quest (obviously) or you were right about to die (which almost never happened).

Each of the legions in the camp gets a part of the Coliseum stands to watch in. Since there were eight legions in the whole camp, the Coliseum had to be colossal. Not just _big big_ colossal, _skyscraper-size-or-else-nobody-would-fit-into-the-arena_ colossal. Because the number of people in every legion but the First were at least a fifty strong. Less then the Ancient Romans had in their legions, but we don't have as many campers as they had soldiers.

The wolf pack had their own little place in the Coliseum, one of those fancy balconies that are commonly observed by tourists on the White House. Cicero usually wasn't present in the very beginning. He had his hands—er, I mean, _paws_—full with helping the new camper decide between whether to use a short but sharp sword there, oh, look, a long but kind of blunt spear here. But you can still break somebody's skull with the blunt end of the three-pronged spear!

Most campers decided on a sword or a bow and arrows. In fact, I think that every camper did pick either a sword or a good bow and quiver of arrows here, and once again, Hazel proved to be extremely different from the rest of us. Cicero slunk past the First Legion's spot, muttering, _Out of all the amazing new weapons that are in there, she chooses an extremely blunt, lead-tipped trident that's very heavy! I've never seen any newcomer be able to wield that thing for more that five seconds._

I was more inclined towards her choice, because the "lead-tipped trident" reminded me that the Greek hero (not so much later in his life) Bellerophon had jammed a lead-tipped spear into the Chimera's mouth, therefore suffocating it because the heat of the inside of it's maw was so great that it melted the lead and therefore, Bellerophon became a hero. (He didn't deserve the title, if you ask me. He was actually rash enough to fly all the way up to Olympus on Pegasus, who had the good sense to buck Bellerophon off.) Then, I realized that Lupa didn't breathe fire or anything like that. Yes, it took me _that _long to notice. Nine years.

Lupa stepped out into the Coliseum. _We have a new camper today!_

Way to state the obvious, but the crowd roared, eager to see Lupa beat the lights out of Hazel. It had, again, happened to almost every single camper. I was the exception.

_I will, as it is custom to, battle her myself._ Lupa paused as her lip curled. As if she couldn't wait to shred Hazel to bits. As if she wasn't worth Lupa's time.

_Raise the gates!_

The weathered bronze gates creaked as it was hauled up. Hazel walked out, looking very pale but determined.

The gates slammed shut behind her. There was no escaping from Lupa now.

Somebody struck a huge bronze bell with an equally huge, wooden mallet. That deep ring signaled the start of the match.

_Bong!_

Lupa didn't waste a second as she flew at Hazel. Everybody was cheering besides me—with the exception of Reyna and Bobby. Reyna covered her eyes with her hands, not wanting to see the sight of Lupa's claws entering another victim.

It never happened. Lupa only had time to look surprised before she stepped on the trident that was lying, abandoned on the ground.

Hazel being Hazel, she somehow managed to make a pool of mud on the Coliseum floor, which Lupa was currently flailing in. It was obvious to the whole camp that she was stuck in the sticky ground.

Hazel was sitting calmly next to the mud pool, waiting for Lupa to give up. She looked as if she could sit there for an hour, a day, a week, until Lupa admitted defeat.

The Coliseum was deadly silent as they processed the strange scene in front of them. There was no water whatsoever in the arena, so how did Hazel create a pool of mud? As far as I knew, there wasn't a god of mud in Roman mythology. Reyna was shaking her head, clearly confused as well.

Hazel heaved the trident up and bashed it on Lupa's head. There was a resounding crack through the stadium as Lupa's skull went _ka-boom_.

Okay, maybe not like that, but it was so loud that it was probably heard all the way to Kansas.

Lupa was immortal. She couldn't die, as long as there were new heroes to train. She struggled from the mud pool, shaking heavy drops of brown mud and bits and bots of some curious objects everywhere. Some splattered onto Hazel, and she had a good reason to look slightly nauseous.

Lupa limped her way to Hazel and said, _Vicistis_.

In other words, "You have conquered".

Well, then. _That fast? _The brawl didn't even last five minutes! And it wasn't bloody at all. Only very muddy.

The Coliseum was still silent. Then, one person yelled in celebration, and it was like a chain reaction. The Coliseum was a clamor of screaming voices and party favors that were thrown up into the air (no idea where those campers got them, but it hardly mattered) and I saw a couple of weapons in the mix as well. It was a wonder that no one had been injured.

And then, silence gripped the Coliseum again as my mouth dropped open. My voice was the only one in the Coliseum: "Not. Possible."

Everybody turned to glance at me fearfully and try to stare at the gleaming holographic image that was hovering above Hazel's head at the same time.

Reyna nudged me. "Um...is it just me, or am I in a dream?" she whispered in my ear.

She wasn't the only one. Everybody was murmuring tersely while looking at me and Hazel. My mouth was still agape. I probably looked very foolish.

Lupa's eyes were still trained at the spot on top of Hazel's head a long time after the image vanished. _It is determined,_ Lupa quietly said.

Hazel frowned. "Why is everybody staring at me?"

Bobby muttered, "Other than the fact that you were the only camper here to ever beat Lupa in under five minutes with a pool of _mud_ and that you're not supposed to be alive, there's nothing remotely interesting about you."

"What's determined?"

Lupa bowed down to her, as much as a wolf could bow. The whole camp followed her example, kneeling. Hazel looked bemused.

_Hail, Hazel, daughter of Neptune, lord of the seas._


	10. Capture the Flag, Part 1

**Hey, guys! This is important, so READ THIS.**

**Hazel isn't the daughter of Neptune in the actual books, she'll either be Mars, Minerva, or Pluto. But I'm not changing her godly parent after The Son of Neptune comes out, so just to verify that, 'kay? Good!**

**You'll also notice that I used "Camp Jupiter". According to my library site, that's what the Roman camp is called.  
><strong>

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter TEN<strong>

I tried to stay away from Hazel the next couple of days, until Lupa told me that I _had_ to help train her. (She was only the second camper here that automatically got placed in the First Legion. Camp Jupiter wasn't exactly known for it's wits, other than the Minerva cabin.) That was an utterly preposterous statement, because, like me, all the other campers were steering clear of a potential threat, and Hazel had become very reclusive and moody. I saw her snap at a camper when he attempted some nervous conversation with her. Lupa nearly got her bones broken when she tried to placate Hazel. Bobby ended up in the infirmary with minor-case hypothermia.

So when Lupa told me that I had to train her, I was less than thrilled. I burst out, "Lupa, have you taken care of the...um, incidents yet?"

Lupa licked a fore paw. _That's exactly why I want you to train her, not anybody else._

"Why didn't you tell me that sooner?" I demanded.

Lupa didn't answer, but there was an air of dismissal around her, which meant that I'd better get out of the Wolf House before she bit my head off.

I slouched towards where Hazel was sitting, twirling a couple of drops of water around. I cleared my throat. "Ahem."

Hazel snapped without looking up, "What do you want now, Jason?"

I ground out, "Lupa wants me to help train you."

"And?" Hazel didn't even look remotely interested.

"Look," I snapped, "you have got to get out of this trance of yours! At this rate, the whole camp is going to end up in the infirmary. Because of you! And what if an army of monsters attack us? You'll be the only one that is able to face them off, a legionnaire without proper training!"

Hazel scowled at me. "Fine."

I sharply inhaled. I had expected Hazel to completely refuse my statement.

Hazel stood up and icily said, "I might as well get a sword from the tool shed while you twiddle your thumbs and breath like a rhinoceros and wait for me to come back."

Without another word, she stomped off towards the central green.

I waited for a minute before Hazel came back in a foul mood, dragging a sword behind her. "Is this good enough?"

I drew my sword. "Battle stance," I instructed. "Make sure you defend all your weak points, especially your neck and head. You can worry about your backside later."

Hazel followed my orders with no comment. She was doing remarkably well, for a newcomer. Usually, they start whining about _Oh, this position is to hard for me to get_ and _Oh, my arms are hurting! When can we take a break?_

"It's best," I continued, "If you fight with a partner, since—"

"You can go back-to-back and all you have to worry about is your front," Hazel drawled. "It's kind of easy to figure out," she said, seeing the look on my face.

"Right." I was a little bit calmer now, since Hazel didn't show any signs of drenching me. "Basic jabs, slashes, and disarming maneuvers."

Hazel nodded, her demeanor more relaxed.

I said, "Tell me one thing you think how Romans fight."

"Offensive all the time," Hazel answered.

I shook my head. "Some of the Ancient Romans might have done that, but here, we teach defense against your opponent."

Hazel looked genuinely confused. "Why?"

I smiled. "Sooner or later, your opponent will get tired. Their moves will become more sluggish. That's when you attack."

Hazel shrugged. "Makes sense."

"The window of opportunity comes at that point."

I steadily taught Hazel the ways of a demigod learning at the Legion camp, and by the end of the day, we were off to a good start.

"Awesome job," I congratulated Hazel. "You really got that disarming maneuver correctly."

Hazel looked uneasy. "I heard that today was Capture the Flag."

"Yeah," I agreed. I frowned. "That reminds me. You need to be on a team. You're the only one in the Neptune cabin, and since nobody thought that a child of Neptune would come to the camp, they didn't make alliances with an empty cabin. Obviously."

Hazel frowned. "Does that mean I have to sit out?"

"What?" I was appalled. "No way! We've got to find you a team, quick. Capture the Flag starts in..."

I checked my watch and my eyes nearly popped out of my head. "Oh, gods. It starts in a quarter of an hour. Come on! We've got to hurry!"

Hazel bounded after me as I took off for the Minerva cabin.

I banged on the marble door. "Dang it, Reyna! Open up!"

A muffled voice came from inside: "No can do, Jason."

I almost went berserk. Cussing under my breath, I yelled at the door, "Reyna Steele, open the door this instant!"

There was a scuffling inside. The lock clicked and Reyna stood facing me, snapping, "What in the names of the gods is _wrong_ with you today, Jason?"

"Listen," I said, still panicking, "are you short on warriors?"

Reyna glowered at the blood-red cabin that was right next to hers. "Twenty legionnaires," she spat. "Augustus and Jessie took a lot of the cabins by bribing them."

"Ouch, " I said, wincing. "Do you mind if Hazel joins the Gold team?"

Reyna suspiciously looked at Hazel, who resolutely stared with a blank look back.

"Well, I don't see why not." Reyna suddenly had a cheery look on her face. "You know what Lupa says! As long as she doesn't kill anybody, sure!"

* * *

><p>There was a lot of clamor at the dining hall tonight. There was an especially large tension between the Minerva and Mars cabins, as they were the leaders of the Gold and Red teams, respectively. Everybody was making bets, and food was flying everywhere until Cicero let out a low growl. Talking and flying food ceased immediately as Cicero slunk back into the shadows to let Lupa take the stage.<p>

_Has everybody chosen their weapons?_

"No," Hazel said in front of the whole camp. Every set of eyes flickered at least once to her, and they looked back at Lupa.

Lupa padded up to Hazel. _Well? What would you like to use?_

Hazel threw a glance at me. I gave her a subtle thumbs up. "I would...like to use the bow and arrows."

A ripple of muttering circled throughout the dining pavilion. Usually in history, children of Neptune always used a trident or a sword. They were not known for archery. (Most of the times, they hit other people with arrows then they hit the target at any spot.)

A flicker of doubt flashed across Lupa's face, but she dipped her head and flicked her paw. A gleaming set of a silver bow and arrows appeared in front of Hazel. She gingerly slung the quiver across her back and strung the bow.

Bobby, who still had random bouts of shivering (though he was dispatched from the infirmary) raised his hand. "Who taught you to string a bow?"

Reyna innocently looked away as everybody glanced at either me or her. Because Reyna and I were the only ones to be able to be around Hazel without getting some sort of injury.

Lupa's ears flattened. _As long as you don't kill anybody with an arrow, I think that it should be fine._

Her tone of voice made it clear: _If you kill somebody with that weapon, you shall go to Hades by my order._ Lupa can't risk losing any campers.

Hazel shrugged and sat back down.

_Capture the flag begins now!_ Lupa called. _Gold team takes the west part of the Coliseum, Red team takes the east! There is a maximum of two guards for the flag per team. Guards must be at least fifty feet away. The flag must be in plain sight. Killing is absolutely prohibited, but maiming is encouraged! To your positions!_

Reyna hopped towards the center. "Calling all Gold team members! To me!"

The Gold team, which consisted of the Minerva (obviously), me, Hazel, Mercury, and Vulcan cabins followed Reyna into the west. We could hear the jeers, taunts, and insults coming from the rest of the camp as we jogged towards the Coliseum.

I asked Reyna, "What's the plan?"

Reyna smiled. "There isn't one."

My brain took about ten seconds to grasp the meaning of what she said. Reyna always, _always_ had a plan. This had never happened before.

Reyna thought for a moment. "Well," she said, "there is a plan, but there isn't a plan."

"That clears everything up," I grumbled. "Thanks."

Reyna sighed as if it should have been obvious. "Sometimes, I wonder about you, Pikachu."

I was stunned by the new nickname. "I'm not yellow or a mouse!" I protested. "And you don't watch anime!"

"It's popular," Reyna pointed out. "The cute little yellow mouse that controls electricity."

"So, what's the plan that's not a plan?" I acidly asked.

"The Mars cabin will think that I have a plan," Reyna said patiently, "and they'll be all on defense. But since we don't have a plan, they'll be confused when they realize that splitting up their team was pointless. And by the time they realize that, we'll have the flag."

"That sounds kind of..." My voice trailed off.

"Stupid," Reyna chuckled. "Exactly. I agree with you."

"So why are you doing it?" I asked.

Reyna's smile wavered. "I have my reasons."

We stopped at a grassy area. Reyna scouted around the area until she found a convenient to place our flag, where the guards could see everything around them, three-hundred sixty degrees, but the flag was in plain sight. Like the rules said.

"Hey, GOLD TEAM!" Reyna yelled. Murmurings about what they thought the "plan" was ceased.

"What's the plan?" Harold, a guy from the Mercury cabin asked.

Reyna impishly smiled even more. "There isn't one."

Clamor broke out, people saying that Reyna must have gone crazy because she didn't have a plan.

"Silence!" I shouted. I indicated towards Reyna. "She'll explain everything!"

Still smiling, she repeated what she told me on the way in.

"That's stupid," somebody called.

"That's the point," Reyna retorted coolly. "The Mars cabin is so dumb that they wouldn't even think that I came up with an equally dumb not-a-plan!"

"But what if they figure it out?" somebody skeptically asked back.

"Too bad for us," Reyna replied. "But we aren't exactly going to leave our flag defenseless, are we?"

Nobody objected to that well reasoned statement. I would believe that Reyna had lost her mind if she said that there would be no guards in the west half of the Coliseum.

The bronze bell gonged, and everybody dispersed off.


	11. Capture the Flag, Part 2

**Chapter ELEVEN**

"Reyna! What are you _doing_?" I demanded.

Reyna poked her head out from the bushes, where she was making a huge racket.

"Just help the others get the flag!" Reyna snapped as she proceeded to rattle branches.

I muttered something about obstinate daughters of Minerva, and stalked off into the undergrowth, scouting for Hazel. I found her about a second later. Did I mention that she was really good at camouflage? No? Well, now you know that I accidentally hit Hazel instead of a tree.

"Argh!" Hazel spat some dirt out of her mouth. "Will you watch where you are going, Jason?"

"I'm sorry," I protested, "but I thought that you were a tree!"

"Sure," Hazel huffed, obviously annoyed. "Gives you every right to be slamming into a tree that's not a tree!"

"Oh...let's just get the flag!"

Hazel trailed after me, muttering something that suspiciously sounded like a universe full of cuss words that would provide Blackbeard with a steady stream of them for five years. (The only word he seems to like is "celery.")I wondered what Neptune made of this scene.

I leaped over the riverbed that served as a boundary. Hazel jumped a second after me. Yeah, we were fair game now. Meaning, anybody from the Red team could just come out of whatever hiding place they were in and maul us very badly.

In fact, that's exactly what happened: five Red warriors leaped out of the bushes and attacked. Five to two? I thought that we didn't stand a chance.

I drew my _gladius_, engaging one of the warriors and knocking her out cold a second later.

Hazel, on the other hand, scrambled for a high tree and scaled it as fast as she could, since there were the four remaining Red team members, and they were all surrounding me. Those spears and swords looked awfully sharp.

That's when Hazel notched the first arrow in her bow and started firing. Sure, she needed more practice (several of the arrows when awry and almost hit me) but more than a few of them hit their mark.

It wasn't enough to knock the warriors out, but it slowed them down considerably. Have you ever tried running around with a couple of arrows sticking out of your right arm and left thigh? It doesn't work. Your muscles just get more and more damaged, torn, and bloodied.

So of course, the rest of the battle was pretty easy. Within seconds, all of them had crumpled to the ground, unconscious, blood running in little rivulets this way and that. I tore my gaze away from the sight before I lost my meager supply of dinner.

Hazel's head appeared from the branches. "Am I supposed to jump down? Because I was never the one for climbing down a tree."

I studied the hundred-foot gap between Hazel's branch and the ground, deciding that Hazel better not risk it. "Try to climb down."

Hazel disappeared within the confines of the branches. Five minutes later, she appeared at the base of the trunk, ashen-faced. I heard her mutter, "Note to self: Never climb that high up in a tree again, unless you jump!"

I chuckled.

"What?" Hazel demanded snappishly.

I said, "Nothing."

"Sure," Hazel murmured, "which was why you were laughing as soon as I climbed down the annoying tree."

We continued through the territory of the Red team in silence, not wanting to rouse any more patrols like the one that we had so "painstakingly" fought and incapacitated. Hazel suddenly froze. "Hey, Jason? You're the more experienced one. How are we supposed to climb up that extremely slippery pile of rocks?"

"Hey," a couple of voices whispered next to me, straight in my ear. I almost blanched.

"Relax," Leah, a daughter of Minerva irritably said. "It's only me, Jenna, Harold, and Rex!"

Hazel immediately melted back into the shadows and disappeared.

"Oh, great," I complained, "you just made Hazel run away."

Jenna scoffed. "She's a daughter of the sea god. And she's kinda vicious. It's not as if anything can get in her way and leave not injured."

I raised a skeptical eyebrow and said with a teasing note in my voice, "Don't tell me that you're actually _scared_ of her."

Leah and Rex glared at me while Harold and Jenna rolled their eyes.

"That proves it," I smirked, "you're afraid of a newcomer."

"Oh, lay off!" Rex snapped. "The whole _camp_, minus you and Reyna, has a good reason to be fidgety around that girl. She's not normal!"

"We're all not normal," I pointed out. "We have godly blood in our veins."

Harold shook his head slowly. "Have you noticed her eyes?"

"They're green," I impatiently replied. "So, what? It's a characteristic that all children of Neptune have!"

"Yeah," Jenna butted in. "They're green. They look as if there's a storm brewing in her eyes!"

I sighed, annoyed by the Second Legion members. "Please. That's the Minerva cabin! Her eyes are _sea-green_, not _stormy-green_. And why are we even talking about eyes? The Red flag is right under our noses and we just have a petty argument over Hazel's eyes! How dumb is that?"

Hazel's voice wavered quietly from the tree tops: "I heard that! While _you_ five people were arguing over the _color of my eyes_, which happen to be green, _I_ was doing something _useful_ and got the freakin'_ flag_!"

Rex's mouth dropped open. "You're kidding me," he called to Hazel.

A stony silence, and the Red flag came whizzing down and bonked Rex on the head.

"Still disbelieving?" Hazel sarcastically asked. "Maybe it's because you don't notice that the flag bounced right on your head."

Leah swooped down and grabbed it. "Come on, let's go—"

"Ah, what do we have here?" An awfully familiar voice drifted through the ferns.

Hazel tensed (the leaves rustled), readying her arrows as Augustus and Jessie stepped out of the undergrowth.

Jessie snorted. "Really, Jason, you're losing your train of conversation. Nobody cares about the colors of a person's eyes!"

"That's what I was trying to tell them," I muttered under my breath.

"Red team!" Augustus smirked as the whole Red team, minus the five demigods Hazel and I knocked out (more like me, but Hazel helped as well). I knew in an instant that we were doomed.

"Where in _Pluto_'s _gym shorts_ is Reyna?" Jenna snapped in my ear. "And where's the rest of the Gold team?"

"Gym shorts?"

Jenna rolled her eyes and lunged forward to duel one member. She fell to the ground a second later, due to the account of the whole of the Red team engaging her.

An arrow whizzed through the air and struck Augustus. Right on the small of his back.

"Argh!" He crumpled to the ground. I couldn't blame him; it was a very sensitive part for Augustus.

"What on Olympus—" Jessie wildly looked around for the offending arrow. "The trees! They've got somebody in the trees!"

Apollo's kids immediately drew their bow and arrows.

"We're dead," Leah gloomily said. "Four against the whole Red team. We don't stand a chance."

She had voiced exactly what was on my mind. Yet, I brightly said, "Don't think negative! Who says we can't beat them?"

My eyes drifted towards the abandoned and forgotten Red flag. It was only twenty feet away...

Hazel chose that moment to come busting out of the tree she was hiding in. It was a brilliant move, perfectly timed. While the Red team was hanging on to Leah's pessimistic and incredibly inspiring words, they were caught off guard by the fact that the daughter of Neptune had been firing an _arrow_.

Hazel landed with a soft _thud_ on the grass. Fifty plus Red team members leaned away from her, as if one single girl was enough to frighten them back towards the camp, screaming for mommy. The scene was so funny that Rex, Harold, Leah, and I burst out laughing. Jessie had this look on her face that was enough to sent Juno into a laughing fit a a century. Even Reyna can't laugh that long (surprise!).

"Well," Rex gasped after the initial shock of the Red team was replaced by anger, "I suppose that we should go in before Jessie cuts Hazel to pieces."

"Shut up!" Hazel and Jessie both snapped. Something rumbled within the confines of the woods and a trickle of water ran down the gently sloping hill.

Rex gulped, not sure whether or not he had brought a tsunami into the Coliseum.

Jessie snarled, "Attack!"She herself aimed for Hazel who dove sideways as Jessie's sword slashed through the air, right where Hazel had been standing a second before. Hazel drew an arrow and waited for the right opportunity to strike while she and Jessie started a game of Sharks and Minnows. Literally, Hazel was running from one tree to another ancient oak, maple to oak.

Meanwhile, I had other things to worry about. A whole score of soldiers lunged for me, their swords, bow and arrows, and spears wickedly glinting in the little bit of sunlight that had beamed through the thick canopy of trees, the weapons eager for a taste of blood. _My_ blood.

I yelled, and a blast of lightning arced through the clear sky and blew the Red team away from me. I charged them, cutting and hacking and stabbing at the Red team.

Unfortunately, that arc of lightning had left me a bit drained. I staggered through one fight, only barely winning it. But my efforts were worth it. Many of the Red soldiers were paralyzed, only their fingers twitching to show that they were alive.

Hazel and Jessie were still playing a dangerous game of Sharks and Minnows. Once, Hazel accidentally ran in the opposite direction, straight into Jessie's sword. She had a long gash on her arm to prove it.

I was bloody and rather tired after ten minutes of nonstop fighting. Me and Harold were the only ones of the Gold team (other than the wildly running Hazel) that was still in the scene.

"Dang it!" Harold screamed, ducking under a sword swing by one of the Mars cabin members. "Where in Pluto is—"

The forest rumbled again as Hazel collapsed onto the ground. That couldn't be a good sign.

Jessie stopped, her chest heaving. Grinning a feral, mad smirk, she raised her sword and said, "Too bad that Lupa forbids killing in Capture the Flag. You would be dead already if not for that sad rule."

"No!" I yelled. Everything suddenly went into slow motion. And it snapped back to normal time as the tidal wave swept across the battlefield. I was glad that I could swim.

The remaining Red team members were smacked and smashed into pancake versions of themselves as the wave reached for them with long, groping watery fingers. Jessie wasn't spared as she could slammed against a rather large and sharp rock. As the tidal wave receded, she groaned, a long slash across her forehead.

"Beaten by a rock," she moaned, "how embarrassing."

Reyna and the rest of the Blue team came staggering out of the woods. "All right, what was the freakishly large tidal wave? JASON!"

"What?" I called back, far more concerned with Hazel right now than Reyna. "Hazel's kinda knocked out cold...will you help?"

"What? Reyna disbelievingly asked. "Are you telling me that Hazel summoned that monstrously large wave? And she didn't pass out?"

"Um...yeah."

Hazel groaned as her eyelids fluttered. "What happened?"

I didn't know how to explain to her that she knocked herself out with a well-placed humongous wave. "It's...a long story," I ventured.

"Long?"

"Um, I mean, short."

"Uh huh..."

I sighed. "Forget it."

Hazel woozily sat up. "Are we gonna get the flag or just leave it there?"

"Good point." I marveled at her common sense.

Reyna stomped towards the flag and looked at it suspiciously. "Are you sure they didn't booby trap it this time?"

Some snickers emerged from the Mercury cabin members. Reyna glared at them. She snatched it up and sighed with relief. "Well...it's not booby trapped. Let's go!"

She sprinted towards the boundary without waiting for anybody. I sighed and grabbed Hazel. She shakily stood up and tried to say something as a couple of cannons blasted, signaling the end of the Capture the Flag. We had won, for the first time in...what was it, days?


	12. A Tale of a Demigod Who Loves Math

**Chapter TWELVE**

"Gods," I muttered, "you are so not making this easy."

Reyna smirked. "Am I supposed to? You shouldn't have signed up for Architecture if you knew that you can't even understand what a ninety-degree angle is."

I sarcastically groaned an exaggerated groan. "You're right. Why did I sign up for Architecture Class because a certain daughter of Minerva pestered me to no end until I joined?"

I immediately knew that I should have duct-taped my big fat mouth when Reyna narrowed her eyes. I was right during that Capture the Flag game; children of Minerva's eyes are pretty stormy. Especially the one that was standing in front of me right now, waiting for an explanation.

Hazel saved me by knocking me over, flat on my back, since she was running into the Parthenon-smashed-into-a-business-building Architectural Compound. I guessed that we were even now.

"This time," I complained, "I don't even look remotely like a tree!"

"I'm sorry," Hazel panicked, not sounding very sorry, "but...well, Lupa wants you, Reyna, and Bobby right now!"

Reyna frowned. "What's that wolf up to this time? The dearest thing I want to do right now is pick up a silver sword and run Lupa through with it!" **(A.N./ Taken from iStoleYourBlueMoonIceCream's _wonderful_ review/idea! :D)**

Hazel and I stared at Reyna in disbelief, since she was one of the demigods that usually didn't question Lupa as much as the others. Emphasis on _usually_.

"Um," Hazel stammered, "don't you realize that after living here for, what, nine years?"

"Yes," Reyna confirmed.

"That you should know that Lupa is an _immortal_ wolf that can pretty much be only harmed by this Imperial Gold thing?"

Reyna shrugged. "The gods made the centaur, what-his-name, Chiron immortal. He can be harmed by silver weapons."

I arched an eyebrow. "I never knew that!" I wasn't being sarcastic, either.

Reyna frowned. "At least, I'm 99.99% sure."

"Besides," I asked, "are there even any silver swords in Camp Jupiter?"

Reyna shrugged again. "If there are, I have yet to see them. Maybe they're in the armory—"

Hazel stamped her foot. "Are we just going to sit here all day, twiddling or thumbs while waiting for the end of the world that's happening in a week and three days?"

I counted and frowned. "That's the fall equinox. The gods don't have any huge meetings on that day."

Hazel sighed as if I was incredibly dumb. Which I probably was at the moment, since even Reyna looked clueless.

"I didn't know that," Hazel said, still panicking, "but will you two lovebirds—"

"_LOVEBIRDS_?" Reyna and I yelled simultaneously. We frowned as we looked at each other.

Hazel rolled her eyes. "Why else would you be throwing moony, lovesick looks at Reyna after Capture the Flag, Jason?"

My face heated up. "I did no such thing, Hazel!"

Reyna snorted. "Actually, she's right. I'm not blind, Jason."

"What my _point_ is," Hazel stressed, "is that Lupa wants you, Reyna, and Bobby!"

In an undertone, she added unhappily, "And me."

* * *

><p>I sat by as Reyna pounded on the door of the Mars cabin, obviously pissed off. But unfortunately, the Mars cabin, sore losers they were, didn't open the door or even yell at Reyna to go away, which is what they usually did to Minerva cabin members.<p>

I figured that we (me and Hazel and the Mars cabin) had about three seconds before Reyna started cussing her head off. When Reyna gets impatient with somebody, it doesn't take too long for them to end up in the infirmary.

Reyna was a lovely shade of magenta by now. "Bobby! Get the freaking, **unidentified word **over here before Lupa bites your butt off, you **unidentified word unidentified word**!"

The Mars cabin creaked open a bit. "Get lost, Owl Head," somebody hissed from inside.

I've seen enough of Reyna's attitude when she's called something that insults her or her mom, Minerva. She turns into a screeching, growling, snarling...stereotypical hellhound. I'm not even kidding. So you can see that the Mars cabin member made a really bad move. So Lupa should blame that dude, Shane for pissing Reyna off. That's why he couldn't get out of the infirmary for a year.

Anyways, as soon as Reyna "incapacitated" Shane, she stomped right into the Mars residence without even asking for permission. There was a sharp squeal that was abruptly cut off when a guy in boxers was shoved out of the cabin, along with two girls and three other guys. I figured that any second now, Mars would incinerate Reyna into a million fiery flames that would e reduced to ashes.

I glanced over to Hazel, who was trying her best not to laugh. I wasn't exactly sure if it was _working_, because small spasms of laughter got past through Hazel's otherwise disapproving demeanor. "Wh-who told R-Reyna that she c-c-could start beha-behaving like a samurai warrior?"

I blinked. "Kicking people out of houses is a samurai maneuver?"

Hazel frowned. "No."

"Then why did you say that Reyna was acting like a samurai warrior?"

Hazel laughed, "It just sounds right."

I groaned in exasperation. "Great reason."

Hazel smiled. "I know, right?"

I was sure that Hazel knew that I was being sarcastic, so I just kept quiet.

Steaming, Reyna dragged a blissfully smiling-while-sleeping Bobby out of the bunker. I wondered if Bobby was still dreaming about Winnie the Pooh.

"Get him to awaken, will you?" Reyna asked—more like _ordered_—completely pissed off.

I jumped. "What, you want me to electrocute him so hard that he forgets that he is in love with Winnie the Pooh?"

Hazel ran behind a bush and didn't emerge for a long time. However, there were suspicious noises emitting from the bush from time to time. Hysterical laughter.

Bobby's eyes flickered open as he slurred, "Did somebody just say Winnie the Pooh?"

Reyna dumped him onto the ground, scowling all the while. "Lupa wants to see you."

Bobby looked surprised. "What, only me? Or were you guys summoned as well?"

"Yeah," Reyna grunted, still disgruntled. "Me, Jason, and Hazel."

Bobby looked around, saying that he had to pay Hazel back for the large bruise on his forehead. I glanced at it. It was a disgusting mash of yellow, red, blue, black, and purple. Healing flesh never looks so great, especially when it was put there by a kleptomaniac daughter of Neptune who used a large wave to smash you again a big, rough tree. Bobby definitely lost a lot of brain cells; there was not doubt about it. Reyna must have noticed that too, because she told Bobby, "You're coming with me after Lupa sees us. I think that we have to go back to learning addition of three numbers."

"Addition?" Bobby frowned as he thought. "Is that some kind of medication that you get addicted on?"

Reyna rolled her eyes. "Double that time. We really should review the basic '1+1.' Oh, and if you do a good job, we can go on to subtraction and multiplication and division and powers and exponents and the history of the French revolution and the Spanish Armada and natural selection..."

Reyna paused, frowned, and then brightened. "That was what I was forgetting! You also need to re-read _A Tale of Two Cities_, _Pride and Prejudice_, and..."

She had lost me somewhere around "powers". I didn't know that you could have supernatural powers in math, but I knew that it would make solving problems a heck of a lot easier.

"I don't want to take drugs!" Bobby pouted as Reyna lugged him across the grass to file a complaint to Lupa about needing more "academic work time."


	13. The Prophecy

**Chapter THIRTEEN**

"So," I asked Hazel, "are we going to follow them?"

Hazel glared at me. "Shouldn't it be obvious, Chicken Breath?"

I frowned. "I don't have anything to do with chickens! And I don't even _eat_ a lot of chicken, so how can my breath smell like chicken? Wait, why do you even..."

Hazel exasperatedly sighed. "Then why don't you get angry when Reyna calls you 'Pikachu?'"

I blinked. "I do get angry! Haven't you noticed?"

Hazel suddenly got interested in her watch. "Hey, _Pikachu_, look what time it is! I think that we should be getting to the Wolf House by now. Otherwise, Lupa might maul both of us."

With an impish grin that was good enough for Dakota (er, the head counselor of the Mercury cabin. She's always stealing something.), Hazel waved and sprinted off without even waiting for me. I could understand that, since I was very shocked and pissed with Hazel using the "Pikachu" thing. It was annoying me. I decided to have a serious talk with Reyna the next time we were alone.

"Hazel!" I yelled, scrambling after her. "Wait up!"

Hazel didn't stop, but disappeared into the cave which was the indirect entrance to the Wolf House.

I grumbled something about patches of kelp floating in Hazel's klepto brain, but ran after her, looking very undignified as I tripped over rocks. I finally knew why Lupa ordered "Proceed with Caution" signs around the perimeter of the camp.

I stomped into the cave entrance, very much annoyed with Pokémon now. Calling me "Pikachu" was like calling my dad, Jupiter "Raichu".

I tapped on the wall of the cave in a series of taps. These taps were sort of like a security code, and it allows a key to appear. (How Hazel even got into the Wolf House from this way, I don't know.) You insert the key into this invisible key hole into the air, and presto! You're in the Wolf House.

I walked along the dank and smelly hallway and squinted as I hopped into the Wolf House.

Lupa was sitting at the center with a swooning Bobby, an annoyed Reyna, and a cheerful Hazel in front of her. There was somebody else in the shadows, but I couldn't quite tell who it was.

Lupa inclined her head. _Did anything hamper you while you were on your way in, Praetor?_

"Yeah," I regretfully said. "Now, I knew why you ordered signs to be stuck around the perimeter. There are a lot of big rocks that weren't there before."

_Actually,_ Lupa sniffed, _that's not particularly why I put the signs there. There are a couple of monsters running loose there, but we have not been able to find their lair._

"So," Reyna said, "are we going on a quest? Is that why you called us here?"

Lupa bobbed her head up and down. _Yes, but I need to...talk to the four of you first._

"You are talking to us," Hazel irritably pointed out.

_Yes, Jason Grace will remain as the Praetor of the First Legion as well as the Legatus Legionis, but I haven't assigned you your rank yet..._

Hazel blinked, the universal body language for, _What's this crazy wolf talking about?_

_Oh, your ingenuity at the arena was very well played, I suppose._ Lupa walked around Hazel, who looked a second away from drowning Lupa in mud again.

_But you need to learn to charge into battle to preform close combat, not just make a mud puddle from far away. I dock one point for that._

"You use a freaking _point system_?"

_So you are appointed,_ Lupa continued without giving a notice that she had heard what Hazel had said. _Praefectus Castrorum._

Reyna's mouth dropped open. "_What_? Then what the Pluto am I?"

Lupa stopped and sat on her haunches. _Tribunis Laticlavius. You have been promoted. Where else would you go?_

Reyna looked dumbstruck. "Second-in-command of the whole camp? Are you kidding me?"

"Hey," I said, punching her shoulder playfully. "Don't complain! If I die, you're the commander of Camp Jupiter!"

"Somehow," Reyna said, "that doesn't seem quite as appealing to me as I have thought it would have been."

Bobby groaned. "Too bad I am still stuck as a Centurion."

Lupa grinned a wolfish grin. _I did say that Jason would remain as Praetor, but there still is a rank above him. Two spots, actually._

Bobby's eyes widened. "The Consul! But nobody's been appointed that for centuries!"

Reyna met my eyes, and I knew that we had come to the same conclusion. "Hazel?"

Hazel frowned. "Don't look at me, I'm definitely not the—"

_Don't jump to conclusions too quickly,_ Lupa chided. _And yes, you are the newly appointed Consul._

Hazel looked as if she could die from embarrassment, although I didn't know why. I would give anything to become the Consul!

"Um," Hazel asked, a little freaked out by the looks of her face. "Can Jason be the Consul instead? I don't know whether or not..."

_You are Consul and that is final. No questions are to be asked!_

Hazel's head flopped into her hands, her ears flaming a bright, crimson red.

Lupa howled, a loud noise that makes the hairs on the back of your neck stand straight up. A girl in a white robe walked out of the shadows. So that was the person that was lurking in the darkness...I should have known. The Sybil.

"A prophecy," she said, "will be made. Who is the quest leader?"

Hazel looked at me while I stared at her.

"You have seniority," Hazel said. "I just got here a couple of days ago!"

Lupa barked out, _Both of you have an important role to play in this quest, so I see fit that you may both be the leaders._

Hazel's shoulders slumped. "Great. More responsibility."

"Oh...can you tell us he prophecy?"

The Sybil closed her eyes, and then collapsed on the ground. But not before a gold, three-legged tripod stool appeared beneath her, so she fell onto that. Her eyes opened suddenly, a smoky medley of green and gold. In a snake-like voice, she hissed,

_Four shall leave to pacify the ocean,  
>Or lest the world be rocked with emotion.<br>But beware, without doubt, your quest shall end,  
><em>When one of your number perishes in the land of gems.<br>_A secret lies beneath the land,  
>Where a long-lost one shall lend you a hand.<br>_


	14. What In Pluto Is The Great Prophecy?

**Chapter FOURTEEN**

_Four shall leave to pacify the ocean,  
>Or lest the world be rocked with emotion.<br>But beware, without doubt, your quest shall end,  
><em>When one of your number perishes in the land of gems.<br>_A secret lies beneath the land,  
>Where a long-lost one shall lend you a hand.<em>

I didn't know how my friends thought of this prophecy, but I knew that I was freaking out.

"That was optimistic," Reyna said in a small voice after a very long period of awkward silence. Lupa barked. _Prophecies are never inspiring._

"Yeah," Bobby said, "especially that Great Prophecy thing."

Everybody in the Wolf House looked at Hazel, and then me. I frowned. "What Great Prophecy? How in Pluto's name is that you know it but I've never even heard of it?"

Lupa's ears twitched. _During World War Two, the Big Three made a pact to not sire any more children._

"I know," I impatiently said, "but I never understood why, because none of you ever explained it to me!"

Reyna glared it me. "Do you know what kind of fight World War Two was, Jason?"

I struggled to remember my history lessons. "Um...it was Iceland against Hungary?"

Reyna clapped a hand to her forehead. "Your grade is F-minus," she groaned. "That's preposterous, even by mortal standards! Mortals said that it was basically a fight between the Allied countries, which included the United States, England, and France, and the three Axis countries, Germany, Italy, and Japan."

Hazel raised an eyebrow. "And it has to do with Jason and I because...?"

Lupa took over and growled, _World War Two was actually a fight between Jupiter, Neptune, and Pluto. The sons of Jupiter and Neptune were the Allied forces, and the sons of Pluto were the Axis._

"I still don't get why this has to relate to us," Hazel persisted. "Just because some half-siblings of ours fought against the children of Pluto, why does that matter to us?"

Reyna sighed, as if we were all incredibly stupid. "Hazel...the children of the Big Three have powers that are far more potent then the other children of the gods."

"Yes," I said. "I think that she has figured that out by now."

Hazel gave me a death glare.

"They could save the world, or they could destroy it. Annihilate it. _Raze_ it."

"Raise?" Hazel asked. "That's a good thing, isn't it?"

"No!" Bobby broke in. "Those are homophones! You're thinking of r-a-i-s-e. This 'raze' is spelled r-a-z-e. It means to destroy, turn to rubble."

Reyna looked impressed. "For an idiotic son of Mars, you have good vocabulary."

Bobby looked modest. "It's just because it has to do with war. War razes stuff. So I know the definition."

Reyna's look of amazement and surprise immediately melted off of her face, leaving an annoyed expression behind. "I should've guessed that."

Lupa continued where Reyna had left off. _They swore on the River Styx to never have children again. Their kids were just too powerful, and they were affecting the course of human civilization. For a couple of decades, everything was fine._

"Until Jason was sired," Reyna finished.

I winced at that comment. Lupa caught my movement and glared at me, warning me to shut up or else I would be in the Underworld a second later. How she knew about my family, I don't know, so don't ask me. Reyna caught my flinch as well.

"What's wrong?" she asked, confused. "You're the only child of Jupiter in the twenty-first century."

I swallowed and nodded. "You're right. Carry on."

Reyna still had a look of suspicion on her face, but she wiped it off. "And now, since a new daughter of the Big Three has been openly claimed...well, the prophecy is just becoming more and more dangerous by the minute. Either of you could be the one in the Great Prophecy. Either of you could determine the fate of Olympus."

Hazel threw up her hands in exasperation. "Well, I sure hope that I'm not the one in this 'Great Prophecy'. I hate taking responsibility for other people! It's so annoying, having to look over your back to check if your partners are there!"

Bobby guffawed. "Now, I can see that although you have a temper of the king of the gods, you're not his child. His children like being leaders."

He shot a glance at me. I rolled my eyes at him.

Hazel, however, was not impressed. "First off," she hissed, getting right into Bobby's face, "do I _look_ like a boy to you?"

Bobby shook his head, holding his breath.

"Second, do I have a beard?"

Bobby shook his head again. He looked like he was doing the Limbo.

"Third and finally, do I really have that much of a temper?"

Bobby whispered, "Yeah."

Hazel abruptly stomped to the right wall of the room and stayed there, venting.

"All right," Reyna said, "this talk about the 'Great Prophecy' is interesting and all, but can we get back to discussing out own prophecy? I don't like the sounds of it."

I smiled at her. "You just voiced exactly what I was thinking."

Lupa stood up and shook her fur. _I shall leave you to discuss your prophecy in peace. Be ready to leave camp by dawn tomorrow. Remember, the whole world is counting on you. Do not mess this quest up, or else, we shall be drowned in blood by the carnage Neptune's trident will cause._

After Lupa left, Reyna asked in a small voice, "Does anyone else think that Lupa is so optimistic at certain points when your life is on a line?"

Everybody nodded their heads sarcastically.

Bobby sat down, his lets crossed like a pretzel. "Go to the line in the prophecy where it said, '_When one of your number perishes in the land of gems_.'"

"Yeah," Hazel agreed. "That part sounds ominous. And what is the land of gems? Some sort of unknown world in outer space? Do we have to steal a rocket and launch? It would be polluting the Earth!"

Reyna asked her incredulously, "Since when were you ever a such a supporter for 'Let's not pollute the Earth!'?"

"We live on Earth," Hazel simply pointed out.

I rolled my eyes. Reyna sighed and said, "Hazel, we are not going on a rocket ship."

"Great," Hazel said, relieved. "I hate being in zero gravity."

She noticed our looks and waved a hand dismissively. "I mean, come on! You forgot that I live a life on the run. I've been plopped in some really weird mental institutes, okay?"

"Jeez," Bobby said, fascinated. "You were locked up in a mental asylum before?"

Hazel frowned. "It is typical for everybody to think that I'm insane when I get mad. Then, bad things happen."

Reyna shoved us all back on track. "Who do you think will be the person to perish?"

"Can we not talk about the more depressing points of the prophecy?" I inquired.

"The whole prophecy is depressing," Reyna said, grinding out each word through gritted teeth. "But I still don't know what this 'land of gems' is."

"And the last two lines of the prophecy," I piped up. "When it said, '_A secret lies beneath the land_,' does that mean that Neptune's trident is hidden there?"

Reyna frowned. "Sounds like it is. '_Where a long-lost one shall lend you a hand._' But the question is, who is the 'long-lost one'?"

"Probably someone in the Underworld who used to be famous, but then was forgotten," I suggested. Reyna nodded, her eyes thoughtful. "I think that the person is definitely in the Underworld, but...just exactly who is it that can help us find the location of Neptune's trident?"

"Going back to my question," Hazel huffed, "what is the 'land of gems?'"

Nobody answered her. That was the part that was stumping all of us.

"Maybe a country or a place that has a whole lot of diamonds in it," Bobby put forward. Reyna nodded uneasily. "Perhaps. It's our best bet."

She stood up. "I'm going to dinner. If you guys want to talk more about the prophecy, fine, but I am starving. I feel like I could eat the whole mess hall!"

"That wouldn't be good for your digestion," Hazel called after her as Reyna zoomed out of the Wolf House.

I rose. "I'm going with her. You guys should come too. We don't want you guys turning into anorexics."

* * *

><p><strong>Whew! After fourteen chapters, they finally go on the quest. See you guys soon!<strong>


	15. Batteries and King Dedede

**Chapter FIFTEEN**

I knew that there was something wrong as soon as we set foot in the mess hall.

Now, the dining pavilion is usually even more noisy than a whole bunch of raucous monkeys chattering their heads off, but at dinner today? There wasn't a peep coming from even the Mercury cabin. Everybody's eyes were trained on either me, Bobby, Hazel, or Reyna.

"What?" Bobby asked, confused. "Did somebody put shaving cream down my shirt again?"

Nobody laughed. They continued staring at us. Bobby muttered to me, "Okay, now, the camp is really freaking me out. What happened to them?"

I stepped forwards. "Guys, what's wrong?"

Reyna bit her lip and glanced at me, a remote tinge of fear in her normally stormy eyes. "The trident," she whispered to me quietly.

"What about it?" I murmured back.

Somebody from the Mars cabin abruptly stood up and pointed a shaking finger at Hazel. Judging by the looks of it, he was about nine years old. "You did it! You caused Neptune to be angry at us!"

Hazel blinked. "I did _what_?"

"You stole Neptune's trident!"

My mouth dropped open. "Come on! How in Pluto could she have done that? She's the _child of Neptune!_ Why in Styx would she steal her dad's trident? That's—"

"Preposterous," somebody from the Mercury cabin called. I stared at Dakota. She spread her arms. "Kenny, seriously. Why would Neptune's own daughter steal his trident? How do you know in the first place?"

Kenny's hands were clenched. "He—Dad told me that one of Neptune's own kids stole his symbol of power!"

Dakota guffawed. "Ha! Your dad is the god of war, Ken! He probably just wants to stir up a fight. Do you have any brains in there?"

Kenny glared at Hazel. "Well, I know enough that she stole Neptune's trident!"

Hazel was getting mad. "How in Pluto could I steal Neptune's trident? I've been here for _one week_! Perhaps _you_ stole his trident!"

I pulled the angry daughter of Neptune back. "Let's go," I curtly said. "We can't gain anything from yelling."

Kenny was shoved back into his seat by Jessie, who was also glaring at Hazel. Her expression was clear enough: _Your fault. All your fault._

"Hazel," Reyna quietly said. "Let's go."

Lupa bounded into the dining pavilion. _Enough._

Hazel shot an angry glance at Kenny and stalked out of the mess hall. After Lupa stared hard at everybody in the Mars cabin, she padded after Hazel.

Bobby glared at Kenny. "Look," he said angrily. "Mars is my dad too, but I know his ways better then you do. I have to agree with Dakota on this one."

Dakota sat down, smugly looking at Jessie, who was looking like a girl who had hopped up on enough chili peppers to breathe hotter fire then a dragon.

Bobby continued. "But you should know enough that Dad loves family feuds. For him, it's the most bloody and fun kind of fight to watch. He's just trying to create a rift between the camp, and Camp Jupiter is family. You're a Roman. Last time I checked, Romans value family members more then anything else."

"Okay," Reyna muttered to me. "Is it just me, or is Bobby getting smarter and smarter?"

"It's just you," I assured her. She threw me a nasty look that had the words _Thanks a lot for your very unhelpful help, Sparky_ written all over it.

Bobby swept out of the dining pavilion, leaving me and Reyna behind. I looked at her, and we reached a silent agreement: _Let's get out of here before they start throwing cheeseburgers at us._ We ran out of the dining hall.

* * *

><p>Reyna and I found Bobby waiting with Hazel at the edge of camp. Hazel was looking uncomfortable, fingering a Duracell battery. It looked like any normal battery that you would find, but I had learned long ago to not judge a book by its cover. In this case, not to judge a boring Duracell battery by its cover.<p>

Reyna seemed interested in it as well and nodded towards the battery. "What weapon does that transform into?"

"I don't know," Hazel nervously said. "Lupa just gave it to me and told me that the non-living battery was fickle. And she gave me a hard disk."

She pulled out a silvery disk that had the words "HI-TECH" written on the top. Weird. It probably turned into a shield. Hazel continued.

"I don't even know how to activate it."

Reyna held out her hand. "May I?"

Hazel uncertainly handed the battery and disk over to Reyna, apprehensively looking at them as if it was a stick of dynamite.

Reyna rolled the AA battery over and smirked. "Well...this is interesting."

Bobby rushed over to anxiously look at the battery. "What does it do?" he asked, excited.

Reyna glanced at Hazel, who was still nervously looking at her ordinary Joe-battery. Hazel tucked her hair behind her ear. "What...does it do?"

Reyna smirked at Bobby's now priceless expression. "Dude, this is so cool!"

That was enough to make me hurry over and examine the battery. My eyes widened as I read the Latin text. "Hazel, you have the _best battery ever._"

"Well," Hazel snappishly asked, "what am I supposed to do with it? What does it do? Shall I get another battery and plug it in a Wii Remote to give it everlasting electrical energy so I can fiddle with it to play Super Smash Bros. Brawl? That's kind of dumb."

"It has Meta Knight!" Bobby gasped while squealing like a little girl. "It's like, _BOOM!_ with the Galaxia Darkness!"

"Bobby," Hazel addressed him. "Has anybody ever told you that you were so sad?"

"No," Bobby sheepishly said. "You're right. I'm getting off track."

I, however, was still intently examining the now very-interesting battery. "Hazel, I'm not kidding. You've got to check your battery out."

Hazel reluctantly came over and peered at the battery. "Amazing," she drawled. "It has a couple of Latin words on it that I can't read. How does this make my boring battery the best weapon in the world?"

"Look," Reyna exclaimed. "This battery can literally change into any kind of weapon you want it to!"

"Amazing," Hazel said without blinking an eye. "So?"

"So?" Bobby squealed again. "And then, there's Pikachu!"

I groaned. "Don't even get started on that pesky mouse."

But Bobby continued bantering on and on about the different awesome aspects of Pikachu in the Super Brawl thing. Remind me to never plop Bobby next to a Wii.

Reyna was still gawking over the battery. "Look, if you say that you want a sword—"

Hazel yelped as the battery glowed and flashed into this awesome-looking Imperial Gold sword.

"See?" Reyna said, indicating to the wickedly sharp, double-edged sword. "And it has the advantage of looking good as well!"

"I'd bet my _gladius_ that Neptune customized that thing," I said in awe.

"Too flashy," was Hazel's comment on her new weapon. "Does it really have to have a sapphire on its pommel?"

Hazel stumbled back as the sapphire disappeared, and a plain old butt of a sword took its place. "Okay," she said in disbelief. "That's pretty cool."

She gingerly took it, gripping the hilt. "It feels...sort of like an extension of my arm."

"That means that it's perfectly balanced," I commented.

"Perfectly balanced!" Bobby shrieked. "Mario can be perfectly balanced! He can stand on a tightrope!"

"Bobby." Reyna grit her teeth. "Shut up or I'm taking away your Wii."

"He has a Wii?" I disbelievingly asked.

"I shouldn't have given it to him for his birthday," Reyna miserably said.

Hazel looked at Reyna. "How do I change it back?"

Reyna simply said, "Battery."

The sword shrank back into the AA-sized Duracell battery. Hazel pocketed it with a broad grin on her face. "Gotta admit...that is one awesome kick-butt weapon."

Reyna wasn't finished. "I think that you forgot about your hard disk."

Reyna tapped the "HI-TECH" part of it. It didn't do anything at first, but then turned into a shield, classic Roman style. It looked as heavy as a ton of rock.

"That looks heavy," Hazel and I commented at the same time. Reyna smirked. "Light as air. It sorta feels like water on the leather inside."

Hazel shrugged and tried tapping in in the center. It shrunk back into a disk. "Ready to go?"

We all looked over to Bobby, who was rapidly listing all the bad qualities of King Dedede.

"Weirdo," Reyna said as she grabbed hold of Bobby's arms and lugged him out of the camp. Hazel and I looked at each other, and we both shrugged. We followed Reyna and the hysterical Bobby out into the real world.


	16. Poaching Eagles

**In the prophecy, who do you want to die? Go on my profile. There's a poll there. Either Jason, Hazel, Reyna, or Bobby. Thanks! :)  
><strong>

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter SIXTEEN<strong>

I stepped out into the cold and windy night with Reyna, Hazel, and Bobby at my heels.

"Hey, look!" Bobby said excitedly, finally having gotten over his Super Smash Bros. Brawl phase. "There's a Burger King! Let's go!"

"Bobby," Reyna snapped. "The quest isn't about eating hamburgers or cheeseburgers. Besides, we don't have any money. At least, I don't."

I groped for some _aurai_ and came up with nothing. I sighed, frustrated. "I've got nothing. Bobby or Hazel?"

Hazel shook her head. "I have a dollar. Nothing else except my freakin' battery, disk, and my clothes."

Bobby frowned at his pockets. "Yeah, Sean stole me a couple of _aurai_."

I smiled. "A couple of _aurai_ is fine. We'll manage."

Reyna yanked Bobby back as a car came rushing past the spot where he was a second ago. "Bobby! Don't stand like a marble statue in the middle of the street like that! You can be killed!"

"That sounds fun," Hazel dryly commented. "Are we just going to stand here like lost sheep or are we going to get moving?"

I nodded. "Hazel's right. We have to find a good place to set camp. It's already turning dark, and we are only a couple of feet away from Camp Jupiter. We have to make good use of the light we have."

"You sound like Reyna," Bobby said. I glared at him. "I do not!"

"You just did," Reyna dismissively said. "What happened to 'good time management?'"

I huffed and turned around. "Fine. Let's get a taxi cab or something along the lines of that."

I glanced at Bobby, and thank the gods, he understood. He took out a drachma and said some things in Latin that I can't recall. The wind was too loud, making me barely able to hear anybody.

Bobby threw the coin into the street where it clattered there, not doing anything.

"Are you sure you said the words right?" Reyna suspiciously asked.

"Oh, come on!" Bobby protested. "I spent a week memorizing the lines and how to pronounce—"

The asphalt suddenly bubbled, the coin tumbling into the pile of reddish liquid. It turned into a huge rectangular pool of what looked disturbingly like blood. A bunch of hellhounds leaped out of the vat and padded up to us. I heard one of the hellhounds' voices in my head: _Where to?_

"Are you a talking hellhound?" Reyna asked. The hellhound stared at her with amber-red eyes. _No! Those are our cousins. Where would you demigods like to go?_

I stepped forwards. "Take us to the furthest place you can without being out of service area."

The hellhound stared at me. _Kid, what are you waiting for? You and your friends, hop on and we'll take you to Oakland._

I glanced over to my friends. "Guys, get on on of the hellhounds. We're going to Oakland!"

Bobby and Reyna didn't protest and quietly got on to their hellhounds. Hazel was a completely different story. "Hop on the hellhounds? Are you kidding me? One of those tried to kill you!"

"These ones are friendly," I impatiently said. "Just get on!"

Hazel reluctantly climbed onto one of the two remaining hellhounds as I hopped on to the last one. The hellhounds broke out into the run as Bobby gleefully called, "Oakland, here we come!"

Reyna smacked him, the slap enhanced by the wind. "This isn't time for dramatics!" she snapped.

"Sorry," Bobby muttered, not sounding particularly sorry. I rolled my eyes as Reyna and Bobby began bickering.

"So," I said to the hellhound, what's your name?

_The name's Mark. My buddies over there are Timothy, Roger, and Eugene._

I blinked. "Nice...names?"

I could feel Mark shrug ruefully. _Yeah, well, we weren't always hellhounds. See, me and my pals used to be...not-so-good demigods. We were poachers. We hunted any species of rare eagles._

My throat was dry. "Oh."

_Jupiter got mad at us for killing so many of one species of eagle that they went extinct. I bet that you won't find that in your history or science textbooks, eh?_

I swallowed and shook my head. "No."

Mark made a rumbling sound, which I assumed was laughter. I hoped that it was laughter. _Yeah, Jupiter covered the whole scam up from the mortals. 'S far as they know, there wasn't even a species of eagle called the Hunter's Eagle. Wait...I think that the Hunters of Diana have the last one. Never mind. Thing is, kid, we learned our lesson: Nature's to be appreciated. You can't go around killing animals for the sake of killing._

We thudded onto a bridge. I silently thanked Jupiter and the rest of the Olympian gods for the Mist. Otherwise, instead of the mortal drivers seeing whatever they were seeing, they would see a huge, slobbering black hound with extremely sharp teeth with an eleven-year old boy sitting on its back, followed by three others in the same guise. I was pretty sure that that would be the news headline of the day.

"Everything all right back there!" I yelled. Hazel's voice came wafting over the choppy wind as a reply. "I think that Reyna and Bobby are about to attack each other. They have their weapons drawn."

I groaned, the sound lost in the howling wind. Come on, guys. Now isn't the time to stage a fight for the mortals!

"Tell them to stop acting like idiots!" I called to Hazel. I heard a faint yell, and assumed that it was Hazel screaming at them to shut up their yapping mouths and sheath their weapons.

After about a quarter of an hour sending messages to the still-fighting Reyna and Bobby, Mark abruptly turned off the road and headed for a bunch of woods. _Would you like us to drop you and your loud friends off there?_

"Perfect," I approved. "And sorry about my friends. They just can't seem to stop fighting each other."

Mark grunted. _I'm guessing that one of them is a child of Minerva, judging by the...very, um, _strategic _cursing._

I sighed. "That's Reyna for you. The guy that's arguing with her is Bobby. He's a son of Mars."

_Makes sense that two children of the two gods of battle/war would be fighting against each other. Did you recently have a Capture the Flag game?_

"Yeah," I chuckled. "The Mars cabin lost for the fifty-sixth time in a row."

Mark grunted again. _That isn't surprising. Those who are smart always beat those who always use force. I was a son of Mars myself, before I got turned into this forsaken dog._

"Um, yeah," I said anxiously, practically begging for a good campsite. "Oh! Can you drop us off over at that clearing?"

_No problemo!_

Mark stopped in front of the grassy glade. As I swung off of him, he dipped his head. _It was nice meeting you, son of Jupiter. I hope that we can have an interesting conversation again._

Interesting? That was the most boring conversation with a hellhound I'd ever had. Of course, I had only talked to a hellhound once before, so this wasn't so dramatic.

Hazel got off next, still yelling at Bobby and Reyna, who jumped off and immediately went knife-on-sword. Mark and his buddies smirked at the scene and trotted away.

"Guys!" I commanded. "Stop. Fighting!"

Reyna launched a roundhouse kick at Bobby, which hit him square in the stomach. Did I mention that Reyna was a third-dan black belt in karate? If she wanted to, she could have you down in three seconds flat. It's happened to me before, and it isn't the most fun experience. I was stiff and unable to move my sword arm for a week.

Bobby lay on the ground, wheezing and clutching his mid-section like it was his anchor to life. Reyna glowered at him, her arms crossed. "Next time, pick your fights more carefully."

Hazel frowned at the daughter of Minerva. "Is he going to suffer an extremely painful death?"

"No," Reyna scowled. "He just can't do sit-ups for the rest of the year. And he'll be limping a bit while moaning his head off. The other effects will wear off in a week."

"_Sit-ups_?" I incredulously asked. "Who cares about _sit-ups_ these days?"

"Bobby," Reyna answered promptly.

Hazel sharply snapped, "_Other effects?_"

"Hazel," Reyna tiredly said. "They aren't that serious."

I plopped down on the grass. "Guys, let's get some sleep in us. Wake-up is at six o' clock tomorrow. We'd better get moving by then."

Reyna rolled her eyes and leaned against a large oak tree, muttering herself to sleep.


	17. Thalia

**WARNING: This chapter is mainly Thalia and Jason-centric. It's basically a dream scene where Jason figures out what part of the prophecy means.**

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><p><strong>Chapter SEVENTEEN<strong>

When a demigod had a dream vision for their parents, it's never a good sign of what will come.

I was walking along a misty path. Gardens that were bursting with petunias, lilies, roses, daisies—pretty much everything you could think of—bordered the road. There were marble statues of the gods when I reached the end of the path, their faces sternly but blankly staring down at me disapprovingly. There were marble temples, granite fountains. There were gold tables with silver platters and goblets lain on them, the cups and plates full to the point of overflowing with ambrosia and nectar, the food of the gods. In other words, I was on Olympus.

I instinctively reached for a set of gold doors, pulling it open. The entrance to the mighty Olympian Council.

My footsteps echoed across the whole throne room as I uncertainly glanced around the seemingly deserted hall of the gods. "Hello?"

I winced as the sound of my voice boomed, bouncing off the walls in a rather abnormally loud echo. "Anybody there?"

"Jason Grace..."

The voice was no more then a murmur, but I whipped around to find—nothing. "Who's there?" My hand inched towards my _gladius_.

I saw a figure sitting on one of the thrones, sadly looking at me. Jupiter rose and beckoned me forwards with a wave of his hand. "Have a seat," he gruffly said. "We have much to talk about."

I blinked at the clearly empty spot in front of Jupiter's throne, and proceeded to sit on the floor. As soon as I tried to, Jupiter seemed to notice the problem and a simple marble guest chair appeared beneath me, causing me to jolt as I hit something much earlier then expected.

Jupiter thoughtfully looked at me. "You have your mother's hair, yet you have your sister's eyes."

I frowned at the mention of my mom. "Don't all your children have blue eyes like mine?"

Jupiter shook his head adamantly. "No. Usually, they inherit the color of my eyes."

I noticed that his irises were a rainy gray, then threw my hands up in exasperation. "Why do I find myself talking about eyes again?"

Jupiter frowned. "What?"

"Nothing," I muttered. "Just a Capture the Flag game."

Jupiter studied me intently, but didn't press on the subject. "Your uncle is very..."

"Mad about losing his trident?" I guessed. "I think that I figured that out a long time ago."

Jupiter shrugged. "Jason...you don't have much time. Neptune's anger is growing, and if you and your friends do not act soon, the whole world shall dissolve into chaos."

"Well, you're such an optimist," I sarcastically observed. "I have a couple of questions for you as well, Father."

Jupiter held up a hand. "Not yet, Jason," he sternly said. "When the time comes, tell your...friend, _Hazel—_" He scowled at the word "Hazel" as if it was an ugly word "—don't fight with force. The burden will eventually land on her, you know."

My heart turned to ice. "Burden?"

Jupiter's eyes sparked. "Yes, _burden_."

I gulped. That didn't sound particularly good. Of course, this whole quest sounded...a little off, somehow.

"Can I voice my questions now?" I impatiently asked. Jupiter looked at me in surprise as if he had suddenly forgotten I was there. "One question, Jason. Only one question."

I bit my lip. There were so many things that were jumbled up in my head, questions that I wanted answers to. "I..."

Jupiter sadly looked at me again. "I know what you want to ask."

"Well, you're a god," I grumbled under my breath. "You can read my mind."

Jupiter laughed, the thunderous sound bouncing off the walls. "That would be Minerva."

"Fine," I snapped as my heart threatened to break into two. "Can I see my sister, if she's still alive?"

Jupiter abruptly stopped laughing and stared past me, apparently lost in thought. I tapped my foot impatiently. I realized that I wasn't breathing and inhaled loudly.

"Please?"

Jupiter didn't answer. Finally, he sat down heavily on his throne. "Jason...some things are best left unexplained."

My ears just about popped off of my head. "Excuse me?"

Jupiter uncomfortably shifted on his throne, apparently aware that I was about to blow. "What did Cicero tell you?"

My eyes widened. "He told me that a pine tree was special to me in every way, thought, or form. He told me not to forget that."

My father nodded thoughtfully. "That is good advise...and the alternate path..."

"So are you going to tell me?" I asked excitedly, hope flaring up in my chest for the first time in years. I would finally know what happened to my family!

Jupiter sighed through his royal nose. "Very well, Jason, but you have been warned: you must not utter a single noise when you are there. Otherwise...you could change the course of your sister's fate. And that would not be pleasant. You will remember most of what you have seen when you wake up, but not all of the events."

Jupiter held out his hand, and everything flashed into blackness. He called out, "Remember, don't say _anything_ or make any noise!"

I landed with a thump behind a clump of bushes. I almost cursed when I remembered that I wasn't supposed to make any noise.

I almost jumped out of my hiding place a a huge hoard of hellhounds and all three Dirae rushed past. They were heading towards the top of the hill where there were a couple of kids arguing amongst themselves.

There was a guy with blond hair at the scene. He was wearing a white T-shirt and shorts, although it was raining freezing rain. He was frantically waving his arms at a punk girl, who was glaring back at the boy. Every once in a while, she would snap out something and point to the rapidly approaching army of monsters.

The punk had on some faded jeans, a black shirt, and a black leather jacket over her shirt that looked extremely familiar...

There was a girl with curly blond hair and gray eyes who looked exactly like Reyna when Reyna was seven years old, so I assumed that the girl was around seven. She also had a T-shirt on like the boy, but had a thin rain jacket draped over her. She was shivering, huddled into a little ball on the ground. A boy with curly brown hair (although it was flattened by the rain and the rain made his hair look black) was comforting her. Judging by the little knobs on his rain-slicked hair and the goat legs, I knew that he was a faun.

I leaned in closer so that I could hear the seemingly interesting argument.

"...Gonna die! It's too much!" the boy was saying.

"Luke! Just take Annabeth and Grover and _get out of here!_ I'll be fine!"

The boy, who must have been Luke, objected to the punk girl's statement. "You're going to be fine when I say so! It's just twenty more yards! We can make it if we hurry up!"

The punk girl seemed to roll her blue eyes. _My_ blue eyes. Oh, holy Jupiter...

"Yeah, _we will_ all get to camp safely when I'm not a demigod. _You guys_ will get to camp in tops, five minutes, so go!"

Luke looked thunderstruck. "Thalia—"

That just officially proved it. The punk girl was my sister. And she was about to hurl herself into a suicidal battle. I silently cursed the family trait of all that "I'll-sacrifice-myself-to-save-your-life/lives-now-get-out-of-here-before-I-kill-you-as-well" nonsense.

Before the Luke boy could stop her, my sister hugged him tightly and muttered something in his ear. Then, she ran down the hill, drawing a spear and shield out of nowhere as she went.

Luke stared after her, his face ashen. It probably was just the rain running down his face, but I thought that he was crying silently. He slowly turned around and picked up the blond girl, who was now absolutely still. The faun took one look at Luke and his eyes widened. "Thalia!" the goat-boy bleated. Too bad that Thalia was too far away by now for her to hear her keeper.

The blond girl stirred and weakly raised her head. "Wha..." she whispered. "So..."

"Shh," Luke whispered, his voice trembling. "Go back to sleep, Annabeth."

Annabeth wildly looked around and fell onto the sleek grass. "Where's—"

Luke bitterly turned to look at the base of the hill, where there were occasional flashes of lightning. "We have to go," he murmured. "Before the time that she gave us is wasted."

Luke took Annabeth's hand, and Grover Annabeth's. Together, they gave one last fleeting glance at the monsters and ran up the hill.

I gazed after them and ran down the hill, careful not to slip or make any noise.

Step by step, the monster army kept on advancing to the summit of the hill. I wanted nothing more then to yell at them to get away from my sister, but I would be tampering with destiny, and as Jupiter said, that's not a good thing. I could end up doing more damage then good.

So my heart was torn into two as I watched monsters vaporize, but as soon as one was destroyed, it seemed that two more took their place. The Dirae were dive-bombing, cackling and flicking their fiery whips.

I was clenching my fists so hard that I was sure a vein would pop when Thalia stumbled out of the chaos. I flinched at the sight.

She had a bunch of deep gashes on her arms. There were a couple of holes in her jeans, and she looked like as if she had been branded.

My vision was turning red, and I was about to leap forwards, regardless of Jupiter or not, to help my sister when she glanced up at the sky and murmured something. Then, her knees buckled and she collapsed onto the ground.

I screamed, "NO!" at the same time as somebody else—probably Luke—yelled the same thing from the top of the hill. I instantly clapped a hand over my mouth as Thalia's eyes flashed open. She muttered something again.

Suddenly, the skies rumbled. I scrambled back, aware of what was about to happen next.

A huge lightning bolt ripped out of the sky and instantly pulverized every last monster there was. The blast was so powerful that I was sure that it was either one of Jupiter's own thunderbolts, or even possibly his master bolt.

There was a whisper in the wind and Thalia suddenly sat straight up, looking around wildly. Then, apparently of her injuries being too fatal, she collapsed again.

The last thing I heard her say was, "Jason."

Me. She said _my_ name. I was stunned. I thought that Juno said that if my sister had somehow survived, she would not remember me! Argh, gods! Annoying, stuck-up, arrogant—

There was a grief-filled voice yelling, "_Why?_"

Luke pounded down the hill with Annabeth and Grover not too far behind him.

And before they could do anything else, there was a bright flash of light and...Thalia, she just disappeared. In her place, a giant pine tree, its branches waving lazily in the breeze.

A hole opened up beneath me and I was falling, falling down into the pits of Teritus. I woke up screaming, scrabbling at the tree that I had fallen asleep against. The pine tree. I needed to find it. Oh, holy Jupiter, this whole quest had a new meaning now. I needed to find my sister who became a tree.


	18. To New York

**NEW CHARACTER ART FOR FRANK ZHANG! CHECK OUT FANPOP!**

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><p><strong>Chapter EIGHTEEN<strong>

I was scrabbling on the bark of the tree so hard that my hands started to bleed. Reyna jerked awake, took one glance at my situation, and yanked me from the tree. "Gods, Jason! You didn't go out for coffee while we were still asleep, did you?"

I started struggling against her grip. "How could I? We don't have any money! Where's that big hill with the pine tree? Come on, Reyna! You know—"

"Jason," Reyna said in a dangerous voice, squeezing me still tighter. "Shut up, stop fighting, and calm down."

Hazel yawned and stretched, rubbing her eyes sleepily. She eyed Reyna hugging me and smirked. "You two weren't making out while me and Bobby were asleep, were you?"

Reyna let go of me instantly, her face turning flaming red. Heat rose to my cheeks. "No!" we both snapped at the same time.

Hazel raised an eyebrow but didn't press. "I heard yelling. What's up?"

"Oh, nothing," Reyna said grumpily, still obviously peeved by the "making out" statement. "Jason was just going crazy. Please, don't mind him. He definitely got some high-caffeine rush while we were asleep; and I think that he's hallucinating about a stupid tree."

"Hey!" I yelled, flaring up. "It's an important tree!"

Reyna stared at me as if I had gone deranged (which she believed that I had) and said not-so-sorrily, "I'm sorry I insulted an important tree. You're not going to shock me, are you?" She didn't sound as if she would care either way, so I leaned towards her, but she just swatted me away. "What's so important about the...tree?"

I sighed as if it was the most obvious thing in the world, which it definitely was. "Reyna, what were the last lines of the prophecy again?"

"_A secret lies beneath the land, Where a long-lost one shall lend you a hand._"

I frowned. A long-lost one? That wasn't Thalia...was it? She was a freaking pine tree. Unless she had some magical force so that she can stroll out of the tree whenever she wanted, I seriously doubted that she was the "long-lost one". But that second-to-last line, that was the one that caught my attention. "A secret lies beneath the land," I said, looking at Reyna and Hazel, who scowled at Bobby and shouted, "WAKE UP!"

Reyna's eyes widened as Bobby jolted awake. "Huh? What? Fight monsters! Falling!"

"He's even more deranged than you, Jason," Hazel teased as Bobby started clutching a low tree branch as if it were his only lifeline to his life. I snapped, "Shut up, Squid Face!"

Hazel glowered at me, and shot back, "Make me, Twinkle Toes!"

Reyna pushed between us. "Whoa, guys, you're starting to sound like your godly parents. And, Hazel, unless Jason is a Sketchers sneaker, which unfortunately he very much isn't, he isn't 'Twinkle Toes.'"

Hazel pouted. "Can I at least call him 'Air Head'? He would be a candy brand."

Reyna snickered. "To be honest with you, I don't care the least what you call him."

"Hey!" I scowled. "Why don't I call you Buckbeak?"

"First off," Reyna said, holding up three fingers and ticking down one. "_Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban_ isn't real. Second, Buckbeak was a hippogriph, and hippogriphs had an eagle's front half, so Buckbeak would be a more appropriate name for you. Thirdly, since when was my mom's symbol an eagle or a horse? That's Jupiter and Neptune, respectively."

I was silent for a moment. "Okay, you win. Sadly, I can't argue with that."

Bobby trotted up to our little trio and asked in a slurred voice, "What did I miss?"

"Anyways," I said, ignoring Hazel's snicker. "The line before the last, I think it has something to do with the tree."

"Yeah," Reyna scoffed, rolling her eyes. "We're just going to search every single pine tree in the USA and dig around their roots until we find this secret. How do you even know that it's a tree? It could be a rock. It could be under a hotel. How do you know?"

"I just have this feeling!" I said, throwing my hands up in exasperation. "Do I need to go through all the details of my dream?"

Reyna narrowed her eyes. "Dream? What dream?"

Hazel looked uncomfortable. "I had this really weird dream...there was an old guy who was talking to me. He was wearing a Tommy Bermuda shirt and khaki pants. Is that somebody I'm supposed to know? He acted as if I was to know him."

Reyna snorted. "That's your dad, all right. Neptune, lord of the seas. Don't call him old; if you weren't his kid, you would probably be a puddle of seawater right now. What did he say?"

Hazel shrugged nervously. "Um, something about Long Island—"

"We are _not_ going across to the east coast," Reyna said immediately. "I am not going to take a risk as big as that. No demigod has survived for more than five minutes in New York City."

Hazel sighed. "I never said that we had to go to New York City. Besides, what's so bad about New York? I've been there a couple of times; nothing remotely interesting happened to me. Unless you count this guy with sandy hair and blue eyes I saw stealing from some McDonald's."

I stamped my foot impatiently on the ground. "You don't get it! We have to cross New York City to get to Long Island! How can we do that in less than five minutes?"

Hazel looked offended. "Does it seem to you that I'm missing an arm or something? I've been in New York for at least two weeks before, and I'm fine!"

"That was _before_ you found out you were a demigod," Bobby piped in. "Once you find out you're a half-blood, really bad things start happening. I agree with Reyna; we shouldn't go to Long Island."

Hazel indifferently said, "Be that way. I'm just repeating what my dad told me. He said to go to Montauk, Long Island. Search for a big hill and he said something in a language that was definitely not Latin or English."

Reyna's face darkened. "Bet that Neptune talked in Ancient Greek. Can you pronounce the words?"

Hazel shook her head. "Nope."

Reyna said, "That was so helpful. Bobby, did you have your father talk to you in a dream or something?"

Bobby smiled dreamily. "Yeah. Mars said something about a big pine tree. Does that have anything to do with—?"

My heart turned to ice and dropped like a stone. "Bobby...how much do you exactly know?"

"Nah," Bobby assured me. "All Mars said was to find a pine tree. That's it. Then, I was in a re-run of _Jeopardy_ or something like that."

Reyna met my eyes and I winced at the look in them. Yes...Minerva showed her something about my private life. I hoped that it didn't have to do with my sister or anything. Sadly, Reyna gave me "The Look" that instantly told me that she obviously knew about her. Fortunately, she said, "Sadly, my mother told me the same thing Hazel's dad told her: Go to Long Island. There's something there. So, unfortunately, it's settled: We're going to New York, and we've gotta try to not get killed in the process. Deal?"

"Deal," Hazel said, bored. I looked at Bobby, who uncomfortably shrugged. "Sure. But don't blame me if we all end up in Pluto's realm."


	19. Important Author's Note

**My school started. Period. I don't have any time for writing fanfictions at the moment. I'm soooo sorry to keep you waiting.**

****IMPORTANT: Okay, the sad truth, I think that Reyna's a daughter of Death. There's new character art on the Heroes of Olympus website if you wanna check it out, and decide for yourself who you think Reyna's godly parent is. But yes, I will be including her gold and silver doggies with ruby eyes, Aurum and Argentium. To be warned, likewise with Hazel, who I assume as the daughter of Pluto: I'm NOT CHANGING THEIR GODLY PARENTS AFTER THE SON OF NEPTUNE COMES OUT. I REPEAT, I WILL NOT BE CHANGING THEIR GODLY PARENTS AFTER THE SON OF NEPTUNE COMES OUT. So...if you somehow forgot all about this story, "Wanted: Neptune's Trident", READ IT AGAIN, because you'll be yelling at me all throughout the sequel, which I shall reveal as _Journey to the Center of the Earth_. As I told The-Daughter-of-Rome in a PM...it is not the movie. I hope that you remember the prophecy to this, because the prophecy will still be very important to _Journey to the Center of the Earth_.****


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